


An Impossible Task

by LaraHarrison



Category: American (US) Actor RPF, Canadian Actor RPF, John Wick (Movies)
Genre: 18+ ONLY, Adult Situations, Consensual Sex, F/M, Falling In Love, Fluff and Smut, Kidnapping, Oral Sex, Swearing, Underlying tension, Vaginal Sex, hospital situations
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-01-12
Updated: 2020-04-20
Packaged: 2021-02-26 22:33:33
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 16
Words: 27,033
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22222084
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LaraHarrison/pseuds/LaraHarrison
Summary: A young female doctor finds John Wick unconscious outside the Emergency Room where she works and she puts herself in jeopardy as she helps him heal in more ways than one.
Comments: 5
Kudos: 13





	1. Chapter 1

Braxton Memorial Hospital was a community medical center about 90 minutes north of Manhattan. Its emergency room was a constant flow of people coming and going, partially due to the hospital’s proximity to the Interstate and the fact that it was the only decent hospital within an hour’s drive. It applied for and received a Level One Trauma designation and was able to handle most critical situations. Cases they could not handle were stabilized and air-lifted into New York City.

The emergency room physicians were lorded over by Edwin Baker, MD, a no-nonsense doctor with no sense of humor, and, some felt, no sense of compassion either. The doctor he referred to as his “Hawkeye Pierce”, or his trouble-maker, was Cassie O’Hara, MD. She was young, full of energy and had finely tuned empathy skills. It was her 6th sense about patients that irritated Dr. Baker, who seemed to have to really stretch himself to make a connection with people. This is the reason he turned to administration where he thought he would excel, but only just managed to get by on poor people skills.

Cassie was a dedicated doctor with exceptional skills and was recognized by her peers as such. She was hard-nosed but flexible and her charm got her past many a pile of paperwork. At any one time, 5 physicians maintained the ER, and even that was a stretch on some days. This had been one of those days.

Cassie was in the physicians break room, pouring herself a cup of coffee for the road. Her shift was finally over, the ER had settled down considerably and she was looking forward to two days off. She pulled her coat and scarf out of her locker and slipped them on with a tired sigh. Picking up her coffee and purse, she headed for the exit from the ER, waving goodbye to staff as she walked through.

The New York November weather hit her in the face as the double doors opened. Her breath turned to white mist as she pulled her coat in closer to her body and made her way down the exit ramp. When she looked up from getting her keys out of her purse, she noticed a dog sitting perfectly still at the end of the ramp. He neither barked nor moved as she approached.

“Hey, boy,” Cassie said softly. “Are you lost?” She approached the dog slowly, not wanting to scare it or cause it to attack her and extended a hand out. The dog began to move away from her the closer she got. Cassie looked carefully to see if it had a collar but she didn’t think so. As she took another step towards it, the dog moved down along the side of the ramp.

When Cassie turned the corner, she saw what the dog was trying to lead her to. An adult male lay on the cold asphalt on his side, exposed to the cold in only what appeared to be a business suit. Cassie dropped her purse and ran to him, dropping to her knee to quickly assess him. His pulse was steady but weak, he was very cold to the touch and his white dress shirt was nearly soaked through with blood. 

“Shit,” she said to herself, standing up. “Sam!” she called to the security guard at the door. “Sam!” she called again.

“Yes Dr. O’Hara?” came a response from the top of the ramp.

“I need a gurney and some help, stat,” she called back to him. 

Cassie took her coat off and covered the man. Two nurses ran down the ramp with a gurney and it took the 3 of them to get the man on the table, rolled back up the incline and in through the double doors of the emergency room.

“Room 8,” the triage nurse called out to them as they quickly pushed the cart down the hallway and into the room.

It became a finely tuned dance of medical professionals trying to assess what was wrong with the patient. His wet clothes were removed and replaced by a hospital gown and a thermal blanket was thrown on him after they saw his temperature was only 97 degrees. They took a blood sample and Cassie examined him to find the source of the blood loss, quickly assessing his chest, neck, head and legs, recovering him with the thermal blanket.

His body was covered in scars. “What the hell have you been doing?” Cassie asked no one in particular. After checking his body, she found 2 stab wounds, 1 in the chest and one in the leg and it also looked as though he had been shot in the lower flank, the bullet entering the front and then exiting through his back. His hands, especially the knuckles were bruised and 2 fingers were broken; his jaw was dotted with bruises and his cheeks and forehead sported deep lacerations.

Cassie ordered IV fluids for him to be warmed before going into his body, an ECG and chest x-ray. While the nurses were working on him, Cassie ran out to see if the dog was still there by the ramp. She didn’t want to leave him out in the cold, and there, sitting down in the parking lot, the dog remained at attention. She walked towards him with her hand out.

“C’mon, boy,” she cajoled. “C’mon now…”

Slowly the dog began to walk towards her and with some gentle encouragement, she led it to the security guard office by the exit. 

“Sam,” Cassie called. 

“Yes Dr. O’Hara?”

“Can you keep this dog in the office for now. I don’t want to leave him out in the cold. I’ll figure out what to do with him later.”

“Sure,” Sam agreed and offered ½ his sandwich to the dog which took it gently.

“Thanks, Sam,” Cassie said to him.

She walked back to room 8, which was still occupied by 2 nurses and none other than her boss, Dr. Edwin Baker. Edwin looked at her over his black rimmed glasses. “What’s the story here?” he asked in an official tone.

“Well, I found him unconscious outside the door,” Cassie responded. “He might have been mugged. I’m not sure. He’s definitely been in a terrible fight.”

“Any identification?”

Cassie shook her head. “We looked through his coat and pants pockets, but there was nothing there except some gold coins, a telephone and some sort of medallion. I’m just trying to get him stable before we worry about that.”

“Call the police,” Edwin said in his booming, commanding voice. “Let them handle his ID. He could be homeless or escaped from prison.”

Cassie squinted. “In a wool suit, silk tie and dress shirt?”

Edwin looked at her flatly. “Call the police, Dr. O’Hara,” and he exited the room.

Cassie turned her back to the nurses and screwed up her face in response. “Asshole,” she said to herself. 

She turned her attention to the unconscious man on the bed, tucking the thermal blanket around him. Turning to one of the nurses, she said, “Can you get surgery up here to see him? He needs to be stitched up. And get a neurology consult to see why he’s still unconscious. Can you also see if we got the test results on the blood work?”

The nurse smiled and nodded. “Sure Dr.O’Hara.” 

Cassie put her hands on her hips and stared at the man on the gurney. “Who are you?” she asked out loud. Approaching the bed, she leaned over and spoke very close to him. “You are in Braxton Memorial. I believe you’ve had an accident. Can you hear me? I’m Dr. O’Hara. I’m going to help you.”

Very gently, Cassie ran her hand down his hair. “Can you hear me? Can you tell me your name?” 

Thinking for a few moments, Cassie went to fill a basin with warm water and got a washcloth. She rinsed the cloth in the warm water and began to tenderly wipe the dried blood off his face while talking to him very softly.

“We have your dog, so don’t worry. Your dog is fine. I’m assuming it’s your dog….,” she continued on. “I’m Dr. O’Hara and you’re in Braxton Memorial. Can you tell me your name?”

Cassie carefully wiped the blood off his hands with the warm water and splinted his 2 broken fingers.

“Do you remember what happened to you,” Cassie asked, leaning over the bed and running her hand down his hair again. “You’re in the hospital.”

She took his right hand in hers. “Can you squeeze my hand? Do you feel my hand?”

Watching his face, Cassie believed she saw his eyes move underneath his eyelids. She leaned over his bed again, touching his forehead. “Can you try to squeeze my hand?”

Suddenly, Cassie felt him squeeze her hand ever so slightly. “Thank you. Can you open your eyes? Can you tell me your name?” He squeezed her hand again in response.

“You’re in the hospital. Braxton Memorial. Do you know who hurt you?”

While Cassie continued to talk to him and gently stroke his hair, he seemed to finally be responding to her. Neurology consulted on him and ordered a CAT scan for his head, although they didn’t see anything superficially and the surgery team came down to wheel him upstairs to the operating room in order to clean and dress his wounds.

During his surgery, Edwin Baker came down hard on her. “I’m not telling you again. He has no ID. Call the police. Do I need to call them or can you handle it Dr. O’Hara? Also, go home. One of the other physicians can take over his case,” he glared at her.

“I know. I’ll take care of it. I’m hoping he’ll be more responsive if we give him a little more time,” Cassie answered, standing at attention, her hands behind her back. Her middle finger went up stealthily. 

“He’s run out of time, Cassie. Call the police now.” Edwin turned on his heels and left the room.

“Eh, fuck you, you loser,” Cassie said under her breath with a mental salute.

And honestly, she could go home. The victim’s blood work was fine and his body temperature began inching up to normal. He seemed to be coming around. One of the other ER physicians could easily take over his care, but Cassie hesitated. Why she was hesitating she didn’t know.

While he was still in surgery, Cassie went back to the break room and got a fresh cup of coffee. “Fresh” was not literal. She sipped the strong, hot liquid and sat down on the couch. She ran through what happened with the unconscious man since she spotted his dog and felt she had a good history. But when she ran her hand down his hair and spoke right before his face, she felt something different. Cassie knew he heard her. She just knew it. He just wasn’t able to respond. 

His injuries didn’t mesh with his face. That was it. The inconsistency. A gentle, oval shaped face with soft features marred by vicious cuts and bruises. He must have been mugged. But shot and stabbed? What other kind of answer could there be? No ID, no wallet. But the telephone, gold coins and medallion. What was that all about? Why weren’t those stolen as well? And how did he and his dog end up outside the emergency room? 

Then flashing into her thoughts was the feeling of his silky, black hair underneath her hand. She had, at first, touched it to try to get his attention, to try to get a response, but then she just did it instinctively as though it was just meant to be touched.

“Holy shit on a shingle….,” she said to herself. 

Cassie rose and went back to Room 8.


	2. Chapter 2

Shortly after Cassie returned to the room, the surgery team brought him back to the ER. He was under anesthesia and drowsy, but he actually looked more alert than when he went upstairs. The CT technicians came and wheeled him out for his scan and by the time he returned to the ER, he seemed almost awake.

When Cassie checked him, his eyes were open, but he didn’t seem to be processing much.

“Hi,” she said, speaking directly in front of him. “I’m Dr. O’Hara. You’re in Braxton Memorial Hospital. You’ve had some kind of accident. But you seem to be doing just fine.”

His milk chocolate eyes blinked at her blankly while Cassie stroked his hair again. “Can you tell me your name?”

“John,” he slurred, closing his eyes again.

“Great, thanks,” Cassie answered. “Stay with me now…,” she urged and his eyes opened again. “Were you attacked? Do we need to call police?”  
“Get me out of here,” he murmured, his voice low and husky, looking her straight in the eyes. “No hospitals. No police.”

“You’ve just had surgery. You’ve been hurt very badly. Do you know who did this to you?”

He raised his right hand and placed it on her arm. “No hospital…please.”

“Why,” Cassie asked him. “Why can’t you be in the hospital?”

“Please….,” he murmured. “Help me get out of here.”

John attempted to get up again and managed to swing his legs over the edge of the bed. “Clothes?” he asked Cassie.

“They’re in the closet, but they’re soaked through and bloody….,” she responded, standing in front of him. “Where are you going to go? What are you running from?”

He focused on her again with his brown eyes and silently attempted to stand. While holding onto the bed, he was able to work his way around to the closet. It took him several attempts to stand, but once he was able to balance, he crossed over and opened the closet door.  
Cassie watched him with her arms crossed in front of her.

“I really can’t help you unless you tell me what is going on.”

He turned to her with half lidded eyes. “I don’t need your help.”

“You sure as hell did about 3 hours ago. You would have frozen or bled to death out there with your dog by your side.”

He softened and sat back down on the edge of the bed. “I can’t explain this to you. I would if I could, but I can’t. You’re just going to have to go on blind faith that I’m telling you the truth,” he said looking directly at her in dead earnestness. “I have to get out of here now.”

“And where are you going?”

“Manhattan.”

“And how are you getting there? Hitchhiking? It’s almost 90 miles from here.”

John stood and went to the closet again, pulling out his wet clothes and placing them on the bed. As he was leaning over them, Cassie grasped his arm and turned him around to face her.

“Look,” she began in a gentler tone. “I just got your body temperature back to normal. You had an almost 2 hour surgery. You’re really not well enough to leave here.”

He put his hands on her shoulders and looked her in the eye. “I have to leave here or I’ll be dead anyway. I can’t explain any further than that. I’m going with or without your help.”

They stood there eye to eye, stubbornness to stubbornness, at an impasse, both their arms crossed against their chests.

“Fine,” Cassie took a breath. “Fine. I’ll help you.”

“Clothes?” he asked.

Cassie thought a minute. “Scrubs. I’ll get you some scrubs and a long, white lab coat. It’s not going to be warm, but it’ll be better than a soaking wet suit and bloody shirt.”

She exited the room quickly. John went through his pants and coat pockets, finding the coins and medallion and closing a fist around them. His phone he grasped with his other hand.

“Mr. John Doe?” He heard coming from the doorway in a gruff voice.

John turned and looked where the voice was coming from and just stared.

“I see you’re awake. Did we get your name?”

“Did I get yours?” John asked.

“Baker,” he answered authoritatively. “Edwin Baker. Dr. Edwin Baker. I run this ER.”

“Wick. John Wick,” he extended a hand. “Just John Wick.”

“We’ve called the police, Mr. Wick, since we had no ID and found you unconscious at our doorstep. They should be here shortly,” he said, frostily. “And I’ll just take these wet clothes and dispose of them. I’m sure you won’t be needing them in the immediate future.”

John remained rim-rod straight and silent. He could easily take the man and maybe stick him in a closet to give him enough time to get away, but he still needed clothes. John didn’t see Cassie, hiding around a corner and waiting after seeing Edwin Baker in the doorway of Room 8.

“Shit,” she grumbled to herself. “Shit.”

Cassie leaned against the wall trying to come up with a plan. She needed a plan and thought of having Baker paged to another part of the hospital, just enough time for John to change clothes, get the dog and leave. The cool hospital tile felt refreshing against her back as she closed her eyes momentarily in order to take a couple breaths. 

When Cassie peered around the corner, Edwin Baker had either gone further into the room or had left. She put the long white lab coat over her own and draped the scrubs over her arm. Her plan was to tell Baker that she had gotten the scrubs for John in order for him to be more comfortable. Baker would believe that. It sounded like something she would do.

Walking down the short hallway, Cassie entered Room 8 and found John pacing the floor….alone. He took the scrubs from her and began slipping them on underneath the hospital gown. Cassie removed the white lab coat and, after John put it on over the green scrubs, they made their way to the front entrance of the hospital on the opposite side of the ER.

Silently but quickly, Cassie led John to her car. “I have to go back and get your dog,” she reminded him. “He’s with the security guard. Get in the car and I’ll go get the dog. What’s his name?”

John turned toward her. “He doesn’t have a name.”

“What?”

“He doesn’t have a name.”

“Okay,” Cassie shook her head. “You can explain that to me later, thank you.”

Cassie ran toward the security office and within minutes was back at the car. She opened the back door and the dog jumped in, immediately recognizing John and licking the side of his face.

“Okay, boy,” he said, petting him affectionately. “Okay.”

“Can you tell me what’s going on?” Cassie turned to him as she pulled out into traffic.

“No, I’m sorry. I told you I can’t. It’s for your own good.”

“What are you a spy? An undercover policeman? CIA? A serial killer?” Cassie began to rattle off a list. “Is your last name Corleone or Gambino or Capone?”

“No,” he answered.

“Fine. Another thing you can explain to me in the afterlife, right after why you haven’t named your dog,” Cassie glanced at him. 

They rode the rest of the way to Cassie’s house in silence. Her mind was blank until she began talking to herself. “Right. I’ll be dead by morning. What the fuck am I doing? Sure. Bring a guy home that you found almost dead in a ditch…and his damn dog. This is ‘Looking for Mr. Goodbar’ creepy shit.”

Cassie glanced at him sideways again and quickly took in his bearded oval face and perfect profile, that silky, collar length black hair. “Yeah, Ted Bundy was good looking too…..” she groused to herself.

But her sixth sense told her something different. That little voice that nagged at her day and night told her that it was okay, that he was worth her taking time to help him.


	3. Chapter 3

He wasn’t sure where he was, but he thought it was Helen running a warm hand across his forehead and into his hair. He thought it was Helen talking to him. Then he realized again that Helen was gone, and had been gone for 5 years….the same amount of time they had been married. In his mind he saw her, her smile, her long brown hair, her almond shaped eyes. What bothered him is that he could no longer remember the sound of her voice. It had melted somehow over the last 2 years since he lost the video he had of her on his cell phone. Part of him feared that he would lose her physically as the years passed, just as he had lost her vocally. There was only one remaining picture of the two of them, safely tucked away in the New York City Library.  
When he woke, he saw a doctor standing over him and fear went right through him. He had to get out of this hospital…or they would find him for sure. He somehow needed to find shelter and get back to Manhattan to find out exactly what had happened to land him 90 miles away from where he thought he was.

John’s body ached. Every bump of the car caused another pain in his chest, in his leg, in his head. Surprisingly, his broken fingers hurt almost as much as the stab wound in his chest. He remembered the fight. Sort of. Things were still a bit hazy, probably from the pain medication they had given him. This is why he hated pain medication. It fogged the brain and weakened the body. He’d take a bourbon over a syringe filled with cloudy white liquid any time.

But now he was on his way somewhere, with a doctor he didn’t know. These were way too many things out of his control….this was way too much power he had freely turned over to someone else. But he glanced out of his peripheral vision to look at her as he rolled the coins and medallion in his hand. What was he planning? What was his plan? He still couldn’t think straight but watched the young doctor out of the corner of his eye. His plan for now was to trust no one.

It was his credo before he met Helen, trusting no one, but somehow she broke through his crusty exterior and found the goodness he didn’t even think he had. Once found, never lost and maybe that’s how he would honor her. Be the living embodiment of her good graces so if her physical being faded from his memory like her voice did, he could still remember her.

The doctor remained quiet as she drove through a regular family neighborhood. John studied his surroundings as unobtrusively as possible hoping his brain had recovered enough to hold the information. The medicine was still making him exceptionally groggy and he felt his eyes closing against the headlights of the oncoming cars.

“You okay, John?”

“Yes,” he answered.

“You’re going to be feeling that anesthesia for another couple of hours,” she told him. “When we get to my house, start drinking water…a lot of water…to flush it out of your system.”

He nodded his head in agreement. “Why are you helping me?”

Cassie glanced at him quickly then focused back on the road. “Because I’m an idiot with a death wish.”

John turned his face to her and realized what a risk she really was taking for him. “Well, thank you,” he said, still studying her. She was a pretty woman with a slightly upturned nose, making her look younger than her real age, he figured. Her lips were full with a light pink sheen and her neck was long and slender. Her skin was a smooth, creamy ivory, accented by her short, auburn hair and dark brown eyes. John’s eyes slid down her body and even covered with a winter coat, he could tell her body was petite but strong. John snapped his head forward, stunned by his observations.

He didn’t have much of a chance to get to know women outside of his business. Helen had been the first and he had given up that life for her. But illness had taken her from him and now John was back where he started. A hitman. An assassin. 

Cassie turned a corner and pulled into the driveway of a small, ranch type home surrounded by green grass and trees. She opened the garage and drove the car in. John was about to get out until he heard someone calling her from outside the house.

“Cassie!”

Cassie ran outside the garage to meet her neighbor, 82 year old Deloris White. She was hoping John had slumped down so he wasn’t visible. If Deloris saw him, the entire neighborhood would know she had brought a man home.

“Hi Deloris,” Cassie greeted.

“I’ve been waiting for you,” she began in a frantic tone. “I woke up with this pain in my side and I’m worried it’s appendicitis.” Deloris pointed to her left side.

Cassie took her hand. “Your appendix is on the other side, Deloris,” she told her calmly. “And if you ever get sick, don’t wait for me to come home. Call 911.”

Deloris nodded quickly. “So what is this on my left side?”

Cassie asked her several questions. What kind of pain? Vomiting? Diarrhea? Fever? Tenderness? To which Deloris said,”No.”

“Well, I think it’s okay,” Cassie reassured her. “If you feel sick during the night, you call 911. Promise me.”

Deloris nodded, looking towards Cassie’s car. “I saw someone in your car when you came up the street. Who is it? A young man?”

“Oh, shit,” Cassie said to herself. To Deloris she said, “It’s my brother.”

“I didn’t know you had a brother. I thought you only had a sister.”

“Nope, Nope. He’s my brother, John,” she stuttered. “John?” Cassie called. “Come meet my neighbor Deloris.”

John eased out of the car and walked over to them, thinking about what he was going to do about an 82 year old woman. Out of habit, he always had to secure a way out. He looked at Cassie.

“Deloris, this is my brother John,” Cassie told her. “He’ll be staying with me a couple of days. John, this is Deloris.”

John flashed his brown eyes at Cassie, then greeted Deloris.

“Are you a doctor too?” Deloris asked, noticing the scrubs and white lab coat.

John looked down at his clothes and nodded. 

“How wonderful!” Deloris exclaimed. “Two doctors in one family.”

“Well, we need to get inside now,” Cassie told her. “And you need to go home and get out of the cold.”

Deloris nodded and touched Cassie’s arm. “Thank you Dear. I’ll go now. I feel much better.”

“Good,” Cassie responded. “Remember. Call 911 if you feel sick.”

She nodded and turned to walk back down the driveway. Cassie watched her get back into her house.

“Your brother?” John quizzed her, still staring down the driveway.

Cassie shrugged. “I was under pressure. I didn’t want to reinvent the wheel in my front yard, okay?”

John laughed slightly as they turned to go back into the garage and then through the door to the house. He rubbed his cold hands together and followed Cassie into the kitchen. 

Cassie’s cell phone rang. “Hello? Yes, Edwin?”

“The police are here. Where is your patient?” he groused.

“He was in Room 8,” Cassie answered, looking at John. “You told me to leave. I left.”

“Without properly transitioning the patient to another doctor?”

“I charted thoroughly. Everything, including test results are in his chart.”

“This is a total breach of protocol, Cassie. Not transitioning the patient properly. And now he’s gone,” Edwin’s voice was getting louder and louder.

“Well, he was there when I left so I can’t help you.”

“When you get back on Monday, we’ll have a conversation about this, Cassie. This is unacceptable.”

“Understood,” Cassie answered him flatly. “Goodbye Edwin.”

John looked at her questioningly.

“My ass is in the grinder because of you,” she told him in a no-nonsense tone. “I sure hope you turn out to have the cure for cancer or know how to end world war and poverty.”

John surprised himself when he answered her, “I don’t even know how I ended up half dead outside your ER.”

“Great,” Cassie replied, filling the coffee pot with water and grounds. “Coffee?”

John nodded.

“And go sit down for God’s sake,” Cassie instructed, pointing him to the living room. “Are you hungry?”

John shook his head.

“You don’t talk much do you?” Cassie laughed. “Or am I talking too much? Or are you just plotting my untimely demise?”


	4. Chapter 4

The dog followed John into the living room and sat down at his feet while John sat on the couch. Cassie came and handed him a cup of coffee and he took it gratefully.  
“I need to check your wounds,” Cassie said softly. “You’ve been moving around a lot and I want to make sure you didn’t tear anything.”  
John nodded and put his coffee cup on an end table. He removed the white lab coat and lifted the top of the scrubs up to his shoulder, baring his chest to her. Cassie swallowed hard and leaned over him, first checking his side and then the stab wound up by his collarbone with a gentle touch. His chest was broad and muscular under her hands and even after what he had been through, he smelled soapy and clean. Watching her under warm milk chocolate eyes, Cassie met his gaze and smiled.  
“Now I need to check your leg wound,” she told him, trying to sound as professional as she could.  
John continued to stare at her as he stood and lowered the scrubs pants to his knees.  
“Jesus, Mary and Joseph,” Cassie said to herself, his powerful, athletic thigh under her hand. She was hoping he didn’t sense her nervousness.  
“Looks good,” she told him as he pulled the pants back up and sat down. “Everything looks really good. Are you in any pain?”  
“It’s okay,” he answered.  
“Why don’t you lay down for an hour or so? When you wake I’m sure you will be more clear-headed.”  
John leaned back against the couch and closed his eyes. Cassie took the blanket from the other end of the sofa and covered him. He didn’t even stir.   
John was glad he could close his eyes to block her from his sight. The thoughts in his mind had to stop. Thinking back to the note Helen left him when she died, it said he needed to find “something…or someone…to love” and until now, he hadn’t thought she meant a real “someone”. Being faithful to her even after she had died was who he was. He had a perfect love and she died. He thought he didn’t need anything more than to hold onto the memory of her, but it didn’t feed the need that all living human beings had. To be loved, to be touched, to be connected to a real, live person. And even considering what and who he was, underneath he was just a man. He was just a man.

Cassie watched him from the chair that she curled herself into with her cup of coffee. It was right by the bay window at the front of her house and looked out onto the green grass of her yard. It was dark now, and she only saw her front porch light reflected off the dew on the grass.  
“Now what?” Cassie said to herself. “Now what?”  
Sure, he said he wasn’t a serial killer or spy, but what was he? And why the hell did he have a body like a professional athlete? And where, in God’s good name, did he get that hair?? It was like goddamn dark chocolate melting down a piece of satin.   
She was glad his eyes were closed and he appeared to be asleep so she could get a good look at him. For all the lacerations on his face and bruises on his cheeks and chin, he was beautiful, but sadness escaped from every pore he had. Cassie thought that he belonged nowhere, with his no name dog. He was off his moorings and settled himself on the strength of his will alone.  
How she knew this, she didn’t know. It was her little voice and she had to stop herself. She knew where this led. It was Cassie sending out the lifeline, saving the victim and then drowning herself.  
“Oh, no, not this time,” she said to herself. “Oh, no, girlfriend.”  
It didn’t matter how great he looked or how good his body was or how sad and disenchanted he appeared to be. The tipping factor not in her favor was the hair. She wished he had a head injury so she could inconspicuously run her hands through it, but that wasn’t the case. But no. She wasn’t going to sacrifice herself again. Really, how many times do you hurt yourself before you put on some armor?  
“John whatever-your-last-name-is, you’re on your own,” she said to herself again. “I don’t care how needy and handsome you are.”  
It was her little voice that kept bothering her, during that every day battle between her heart and her intellect. The little voice was her heart and self protection mode was her intellect. After the long chat with her intellect, her heart decided it needed its say.  
You could help him. He seems lonely and a little more than lost. You could help him believe in the goodness of people again and maybe he’d name that poor dog.   
“He’s a good person,” the voice said. “He’s just lost his way and ended up on your doorstep for a reason.”  
“Oh, shut up,” Cassie said out loud.

John awoke with a sore neck and rubbed it while rotating his head. Glancing over at Cassie, he could see her studying him carefully. They watched each other for a long time, John’s eyes running appreciatively down her body, a sense of urgency and desire building up in both of them. John seemed frozen in his seat as Cassie stood up and walked towards him. It was a slow, languid walk, as she took off her white lab coat and let it slip to the floor. Her hand slid through her hair and her curls released themselves into waves of shiny, auburn tides. She slipped her shoes off and left them where they were, her bare feet colored with shimmering red nails.  
It seemed like an eternity for Cassie to walk to him and he sat up on the edge of the sofa. Cassie’s hand touched the side of his face and he leaned forward into her, her hand clasping him to her chest. He let out a long breath and felt his body relax. She stroked his coarse black beard and ran her hand around his chin. He could smell her sweet, light scent and he closed his eyes in order to breathe her in. While her one hand was wrapped around his chin, her other hand combed lazily through his hair in long, sweet sweeps. He felt her lean down and place her cheek on top of his head.  
John sat back and pulled Cassie into his lap. Straddling him, she leaned into him and……  
“John?” Cassie said, gently touching his arm to wake him. “John?”  
He sat up with a start and began blinking his eyes. “Oh, fuck,” he said to himself. “Grand mal fuck.”  
“Are you okay?”  
John nodded, finally coming to his senses. “Yeah, I’m fine. Just didn’t know where I was for a minute.”  
“Well, it’s morning and I’ve made breakfast. I don’t know when you ate last, so it might be a good idea to get something in your stomach.”  
He nodded. “Thanks.”  
While eating, John asked Cassie about the best way to get into the city. “Commuter train? Bus?”  
“I’ll take you,” Cassie offered. “Where do you need to go? Do you live there?”  
“No,” he answered, evenly. “My house….there was a gas leak. It exploded and destroyed everything. I need to get to the Continental Hotel.”


	5. Chapter 5

John offered to drive her car into the city and Cassie agreed. She really disliked going into the city -- the noise, the traffic, the people – she just wasn’t used to it. John wanted to drive so it would give him something else to concentrate on. He couldn’t get Cassie out of his thoughts; it was like a song playing over and over. Part of him understood. Cassie was an attractive woman with a delicate sensuality that intrigued him. Yet part of him felt like he was betraying Helen, even though the note she left him said he should find “someone to love”. But how could he get into a relationship with Cassie? With anyone, really. Cassie didn’t know about him. She didn’t know what he did and he didn’t want her to. She had probably saved his life and now he owed her. Owed her as if she had his marker.  
Cassie’s cell phone went off when they were about 10 minutes away from the hotel. She answered it with a sigh and said, “Hello?”  
“Cassie? It’s Deloris. Where are you?” she asked urgently.  
“Hi Deloris, what’s up? Are you okay?”  
“The police were here looking for you. They asked if I’d seen you so I told them I saw you and your brother yesterday. They need to talk to you. They said it’s important.”  
“Okay Deloris. Don’t worry. Everything is fine,” Cassie reassured her. “I’ll call them.”  
“It’s Braxton PD.”  
“Thank you so much Deloris. Please don’t worry. It’s nothing to worry about, okay? You take care and I’ll talk to you later.”   
Cassie hung up with Deloris and then told John what she had said. “Are the police after you?”  
“No,” he answered.  
“How did you end up at Braxton Memorial?”  
John shook his head. “I don’t know.”  
“Somebody is after you then, right?”  
“I don’t know,” he said.  
“Do you really not know or are you just not telling me?”  
John looked at her. “I really don’t know.”

After the valet took the car, John and Cassie, together with the dog, walked into downtown Manhattan’s Continental Hotel and went directly to the front desk. The concierge greeted John warmly. “Mr. Wick, nice to see you again. You’ll be staying with us…?”  
“…An indefinite amount of time,” John answered, evenly. Cassie watched as John passed him a gold coin. She thought it odd, but shrugged her shoulders.  
“Very well. Do you need help with any baggage?”  
“No. But do you still have the bag I left here last time?”  
“Of course. I will have it sent up to your room. It is room number 405.”  
John turned to Cassie. “Cassie this is Charon. Charon, Cassie.”  
Charon bowed slightly to Cassie. “Cassie,” he said.  
“Nice to meet you, Charon,” Cassie responded.  
“Will you be taking the dog with you, sir, or would you like me to take care of him?”  
“If you could take care of him, I’d appreciate it.”  
“No problem, sir,” Charon answered.  
“Thank you,” John said and turned to leave. He told the dog to stay and he obeyed perfectly.  
Cassie wondered what kind of hotel this was. A long term residence type of hotel? It seemed very high class with oak paneling on the walls and almost antique fixtures.   
John escorted Cassie to the lounge and ordered a glass of red wine for her.  
“I’ll be right back. Just make yourself comfortable,” John told her.  
Cassie thanked him and watched as he walked away. She looked around at her surroundings and immediately felt like a sore thumb. Everyone, men and women alike, were dressed in business suits and Cassie was in jeans and a sweater, with a winter jacket by her side. This was obviously some kind of executive hotel. The server brought her the glass of wine and she gratefully took a sip, the liquid warming her as it went down her throat.

As John walked away from her, his thoughts centered on the red sweater Cassie was wearing that curved around her figure so perfectly and those jeans that form fit around her lovely hips and thighs. He closed his eyes momentarily to shut out the image of her, but it simply wouldn’t go away. That hand running down his forehead and into his hair. The pure scent of her. The pitch of her voice. The risk she took helping him get out of the hospital, going on sheer, blind faith.  
Was he being given a second chance? John knew he didn’t even deserve a first chance. That chance with Helen. But now was he being given another shot at a normal life? A normal life in the face of everything he had gone through? Was he being given a chance to choose…between retirement or a permanent ticket to serve the high table, between finding out how he ended up at the exit of Braxton Community Medical Center half dead or letting it go and leaving the service? But what had they told him? No one gets out and comes back in expecting to leave again. It just didn’t work that way.  
But Cassie. How did Cassie fit in all this? John wanted her…he felt the want way down in his soul. But he also knew he continued to mourn Helen. How did he justify that?  
And, bottom line, what was Cassie thinking?

Cassie took another sip of wine and thought about what she was going to do about the police at her front door. Was John going to throw her out in the lake and see if she could swim or was he going to put her in the boat? Well, at the very least, she was alive. John hadn’t killed her in the middle of the night, which was a good thing, she laughed to herself. But what could the police possibly want with her…or was it John they wanted? Was he a missing person or a wanted man?  
Her little voice said neither, but it didn’t take her any further than that. He was mixed up in some stupid shit, that she knew, but it didn’t diminish her wild thoughts about him. His strong, muscular arms wrapping around her body, the feel of his powerful chest pressed against hers, sweeping that long, black hair out of his face, those thick, athletic thighs between her own, and those full lips coming down to meet hers.  
Cassie shifted in her chair and looked around as if someone could read her thoughts. She never fantasized about a patient that way. Never. And she had taken care of some very handsome, charismatic men. So what made John Wick different?  
Pheromones. Fairies brought the pheromones and bewitched her. That was it, she laughed to herself. Some kind of magical invisible mist that made her want him. Made her care about him. She had no other explanation and that would have to do for now.   
Buried in fantasy land, she didn’t see John approach her. Cassie looked up when she heard him order a bourbon from the server and sat down across from her. He was dressed in a dark charcoal suit with a black turtleneck sweater and Cassie’s breath caught in her throat. His black hair was combed back and around his ears. Cassie stomped on her own foot and bit her lip.  
“Jesus, Mary and Joseph,” she exclaimed to herself, finally closing her mouth after it dropped open.

“Thank you very much for dinner but I had better get going home,” Cassie told him as they finished eating. “I’ve got a 90 minute drive in front of me, Deloris and the police to deal with. But before I go, let me check your wounds. I want to make sure there’s no infection and that they are healing well.”  
“Fine, but I’m going to go back with you to straighten this out with the police,” John said.  
“That’s not necessary, John.”  
“Yes it is,” he answered, standing up from the table. “I’m not going to let you drown on my behalf. I’m sure it’ll be fixed quickly. It’s probably just a case of clearing the report Edwin Baker made about a man with no ID.”  
“But John, you told Edwin your name. Why would the police still be interested in this?”  
They stood from the table and once again Cassie felt self-conscious in her jeans and sweater. It seemed to her that every guest there was on a mission. They all walked with purpose. No one was slacking, and no one seemed to know anyone else. For the number of people in the hotel, it was exceptionally quiet and anonymous.  
“I don’t know,” John finally answered her. “I don’t know why they would still be interested in this.”  
When Cassie rounded the table, John touched her elbow to lead her to the elevator. When he touched her, she felt a storm break out in her body. Her blood pressure sky-rocketed, her brain became foggy and her knees wanted to fold. In response, she tripped over the carpeting and falling backwards, landed in John’s arms.   
Horrified, she looked up to see soft, milk chocolate eyes shining down at her and lips curled up into a slight smile.  
“One,” she said holding up her index finger. “may I remind you. One glass of wine. I’m clearly as clumsy stone straight as I would be drunk.”  
John laughed and holding her by the waist, leaned her back up to her feet. He held on a second longer than he needed to and her hair brushed the side of his face. A light, fruity scent floated to him from her shampoo and closing his eyes, he took a deep breath.   
John felt intoxicated with the feel of her in his arms -- it nearly overwhelmed him. It had been so long, so long since he held Helen and made love to her. Could he even think Cassie might want him? He stood close to her as the elevator door closed and he pushed number 4. Thoughts of Cassie wanting him, loving him, flooded his mind and body so strongly, he almost couldn’t control it. It felt like he had no control over his own body, over the automatic reaction to her closeness, to the smell of her shampoo, to the thoughts of her lazily running a tender hand through his hair, to wondering what she would be like with her naked body underneath his. John swallowed hard as he felt growing feelings in his pants.  
Cassie turned to look at him and smiled when he took her elbow to lead her out of the elevator and down to his room. She had no idea what she was doing to him. No idea.


	6. Chapter 6

Opening the door to his hotel room, John stepped aside to let Cassie in first and she turned around to face him after he closed and locked the door. He watched her carefully as she tossed her coat on a chair.  
Finally, she spoke up. “Well, let me check your chest first.”  
John took off his suit coat and placed it over Cassie’s in the chair. He never took his eyes off her as he pulled the turtleneck up and over his head and placed it with his suit coat. Sitting on the edge of the bed, Cassie silently walked over to him.  
She checked the stab wound by his collarbone first and told him everything was healing properly. Her eyes followed the line of his chest to his right side and found the gunshot wound healing well also.  
Neither one of them moved nor spoke. He was going to have to remove his pants in order for Cassie to check the stab wound on his thigh, but standing inches from him, Cassie remained silent and John didn’t move.  
Time seemed to stand still as the filtered dusky sun light slowly moved across the room through the big front window. The room was large but classically simple with a king sized bed covered in a black and white comforter, matching the curtains on the window. There was a big credenza against the far wall with a large television on top and a dresser next to that. On another wall was a book shelf with 2 matching chairs, one of them holding Cassie’s and John’s coats.  
John finally stood before her, his hands slowly came up to either side of her face. Automatically, her hands rose to rest on his bare chest. As John leaned down, Cassie’s eyes closed and his smooth lips gently brushed hers.  
Releasing her but never taking his eyes off her, his thumbs made their way lightly across her cheeks, working their way down to run across her lips. Cassie’s eyes were watering as she looked up at him and her arms made their way from his chest to up and around his neck.   
John’s forehead came down to meet hers and time was quiet and still while Cassie waited patiently. She felt his hair tumble over her cheeks.  
“I was married once,” he said barely over a whisper in a low, husky voice. “I was married once but she died. Five years ago.”  
Cassie remained motionless as she answered, “I’m very sorry.” Her forehead still touching his she asked, “What do you need? What will help you?”  
John didn’t look at her.  
“…not to be alone,” he murmured.  
With her arms around his neck, Cassie’s head came to rest against the side of his cheek. She felt his hands slowly slip around to her lower back and his head fell against her shoulder. He was hugging her so tightly, she almost had trouble catching her breath. Unable to hold back, Cassie’s hand went into the back of his hair and combed it through with her fingers. “Like goddamn satin,” she said to herself.  
Her hand was lightly tangled in his hair when his face rose from her shoulder to look her in her dark brown eyes. Again his hands went around her face and his eyes closed as he leaned down to kiss her warmly. A feral intensity was building up in him that, try as he might, he couldn’t ignore. His arms went around her body and completely enveloped her. Waves of heat and desire flooded over him as his lips pressed Cassie’s over and over. Instinctively, his open mouth went to her neck and he tasted her sweet, ivory skin as he gently rocked her back and forth. All the senses that he forced to lay dormant for the last 5 years were coming back alive in his mind and body. There was a bit of fear mixed in there too—fear that his passion would overwhelm Cassie and she would pull away from him. It had just been so damn long, so damn long. In response to his thoughts, his mouth found hers and he kissed her hard. Cassie’s mouth opened to him naturally, effortlessly and his tongue hungrily slipped into her mouth. A soft hum came from Cassie’s throat.  
John’s hands began a slow, intense trip down the sides of her body, his thumbs slipping down the sides of her breasts, all the while his open mouth closed on hers. Passing her hips, both hands went to her backside and pulled her closer into him. Cassie felt the hardness of him against her and she felt alive with desire, butterflies dancing in between her legs. Last night she worried he would kill her in her sleep, now she worried he’d stop doing what he was doing out of loyalty to his deceased wife.   
He released her backside and slid his hands up and under her sweater feeling her warm, soft, silky skin. Cassie’s raised her arms as John pulled the sweater over her head, off her arms and tossed it to the floor. She shivered slightly, not out of being cold, but as an automatic reaction to his touch. John’s hands continued down the front of her body until he reached the waistband of her jeans. His mouth back on hers, he unbuttoned and unzipped her jeans only breaking their kiss in order to help her slip out of them. Taking her hands, he stepped back and under a heavy gaze admired her body, his mouth then taking hers again.   
Slowly, his hands made their way around her waist as his tongue searched her mouth ardently. Her head was reeling; she was dizzy with the feel of his hands on her bare skin. They were powerful hands but tenderly slid across her body to find the spot on her lower back that made her knees buckle. Cassie was lost…in his touch, in his kiss.   
Cassie’s hand slipped between their bodies and followed the center of his chest to his abdomen and down to the front of his pants. When she took him in her hand, even through his trousers, he sighed heavily, took a deep breath and placed his forehead on her shoulder.   
“Cassie,” he whispered.  
He whispered her name again as she unbuttoned and unzipped his pants, allowing them to fall softly to the floor. Stepping backwards, his hands in hers, Cassie sat down on the bed and swung her legs around, shifting herself to the center of the bed. John followed her and rolled to his side next to her, his hand on her stomach.  
Their eyes locked together as a fire grew between them, a fire of urgency and insistence. Cassie leaned toward John on her side and he placed his hand behind her back to unhook her bra, the black lace falling off her easily. John’s mouth lightly enclosed her breast as his hand slid down between her black panties and skin. Cassie’s hand went into his hair and she combed through it sensually with her fingers.  
“John,” she purred. His finger slipped into her easily, then a second. Cassie felt every movement of his fingers and took several deep breaths, her hips bucking into his hand. When he withdrew his fingers, he began to make circular motions that caused her body to arc toward him. “Shit, John,” she said with a shiver. His hand then slid up her body to her hip.  
He kissed the cleavage between her breasts and began kissing her other breast, taking his time teasing it playfully with his tongue. Then with light kisses, John continued down her body until he reached her panties, and he removed them in one quick motion as Cassie’s lifted her hips. John’s mouth was on her in an instant and Cassie writhed under him, her mind going blank as he pleasured her. A guttural noise escaped from the back of her throat as her head tipped backward, her eyes closed. Hearing her, feeling her, tasting her, John felt as though he was getting lost in his senses and felt himself finally let go of the past. John wanted Cassie, he needed her and he felt alive again.  
The only thought Cassie was having was what John was doing to her body and how much longer she could stand him not being inside her. The sound in her ears was like a volcano wanting to erupt as her body automatically swayed under his tongue . Suddenly, instinctively, her hands flew out alongside her body and grabbed onto the black and white comforter as the pressure built up. Fisting up her hands around the material, her breathing fast, she held on until her back arched in one violent jerk and she began trembling.  
“John,” she called out as her hands began reaching for him in between her thighs and the shuddering slowed and stopped. John lifted his face to look at her and smiled…a smile that would mean something only to the two of them. Easing himself up, he began to leave a trail of light, sweet kisses all the way up to her neck.   
Cassie’s hands went to either side of his face as her breathing slowed in order to look at him closely. “There was a song,” she whispered. ”from the 80’s I think, that reminds me of you.”  
“What was that Cass?” he asked, nibbling on her neck.  
“’Your kiss is on my list of the best things in life’,” she told him, pulling him tightly against her warm body.  
“Oh, baby,” he murmured. “Oh, baby.”  
Cassie kissed the side of his face then leaned John gently onto his back. He happily turned himself over into her hands. Sitting up, she straddled him across his waist and leaned forward to place kisses on his neck. She began to float butterfly kisses across his chest, causing him to look at her to see what she was doing. Cassie danced her long eyelashes down his skin while she blew air lightly out of her mouth. Goosebumps broke out all over his body.  
“Holy shit,” he exclaimed as his body responded to her.  
“Butterfly kisses,” she told him with a smile and then continued down his chest to his stomach, down to his abdomen.   
The sound of a locomotive filled his ears as pressure built up in every cell of his body. John wanted to quickly lean her on her back, enter her, and buck his hips into her and it took everything in him to come back in from the ledge. His erection was still confined in his boxer shorts as he felt Cassie rim her fingers around the edge of the elastic waistband. She kissed every scar and bruise he had as she carefully removed his shorts and watching him, tossed them playfully over her shoulder. John laughed and thought he had never laughed so freely in 5 years.  
Cassie laid her hand at the base of his erection and ran her tongue around the tip and up his length. John sucked in a breath and moaned, “Fuck, Cass” as he closed his eyes and rolled his head back. It had been nearly 6 years since a woman touched him like this, 6 long, sad, lonely years, and his hands went into Cassie’s hair as she took him into her mouth. John felt a deep need to touch her as a flood of emotion over took him and he savored every feeling, every movement, every breath from her.   
She took him deeply to the back of her throat and began an easy, leisurely up and down rhythm. Hearing his breath quicken under a moan, and feeling his hips buck into her, she increased the tension and built up the cadence. It wasn’t long before Cassie felt him move away from her slightly, her signal that he had taken just about as much as he could before coming undone.  
Cassie sat up and used her hand to guide him into her, then took him deeply. John caught his breath and released a sigh as they built up a rhythm together, John slipping his thumb underneath her to heighten her arousal. He watched her carefully when he was able to temporarily come to his senses. His senses of smell, taste, hearing, feeling and seeing were hyper-sensitive and every move Cassie made sent a shock through his body. John smelled the light, fruity scent of her shampoo, the taste of her was still on his tongue, he heard her call out his name, he could feel her wrapped around him and he could watch her as her dark brown eyes filled with a need for him. He didn’t realize how much he had missed all his senses coming together with a woman….he had missed the completeness of sex.  
Cassie’s heart was beating so hard, she thought John could probably see it through her chest. Every nerve ending was electrified and her skin was on fire. Her mind held no information other than the feelings in her body. It was never like this for her. Never. She didn’t even fathom it could be like this with her body reacting in ways it never had before.  
She was at her breaking point when she called out, “Dear God, John,” and her body came to an intense, uncontrollable orgasm. The shaking of her body and the tensing of her internal muscles caused John to moan, “Cassie, baby,” as he released himself inside her in an intense burst. His thrusting slowed and finally stopped as he sat up to meet her, his hands traveling up her back to the sides of her face. Breathing hard, they kissed warmly and smiled at each other.  
John’s head tipped forward and came to rest on Cassie’s, their breathing still faster than normal. “Baby,” he said kissing the tip of her nose and pulling her down on him. Cassie curled up at his side with her head on his shoulder, John’s arm wrapped around her protectively, as he caressed her shoulder absent-mindedly.  
John felt her shiver slightly. “Are you cold?”  
Cassie nodded and kissing her hair, he helped her move so they could wrap themselves in the comforter.   
It was silent. There wasn’t any sound from the traffic on the street or the heater in the room or from the hallway. Finally Cassie spoke up. “Do you regret this?” she asked cautiously, her voice shaky.  
“No,” he answered quickly, pulling her in to hug her and kiss her temple. “No.”


	7. Chapter 7

Cassie woke greeted by bright sunlight coming in through the large plate glass window. John was spooned up against her back, his one arm draped over her casually with the big down comforter wrapped around both of them. Warm and content, she snuggled back against him and heard the long, slow breathing of sleep coming from him.   
She closed her eyes and sighed. It was then she realized she had slept with an almost absolute stranger for what did she know, really? The only thing she knew for sure was his name and he wouldn’t lie about that, would he?   
Cassie realized that she did, indeed, do it again. She tried to save someone at a cost to herself and she mentally kicked her own ass. Her little voice told her she would damn well do it all over again, too, and her little voice never let her down. But why? What made her trust a man she barely knew?  
Part of her, the devil on her shoulder, told her he could well wake up and kick her unceremoniously right out of bed. It was not a pleasant thought. But then again, what if he didn’t, the angel on her other shoulder asked? What if he took her in his arms and made love to her again? What would she do then?   
John stirred next to her and Cassie yawned, stretching her legs out. She felt him move against her and lightly kiss her exposed shoulder.  
“Cass?” he whispered, his face appearing next to her neck.  
“Morning, Sunshine Superman,” she sweetly replied. Cassie turned on her back towards him and placed her hand on the side of his face.  
Leaning on his elbow, his finger traced her face from her forehead down to her chin, then he kissed her neck. He brought his face back up to hers and suddenly asked quizzically, “Sunshine Superman?”  
She laughed. “Yes. You’re a Sunshine Superman. It’s a song from the 60’s, Donovan sang it I think. It doesn’t have anything to do with anything, really. It just popped into my brain and it’s just cute,” she smiled, pushing his black hair off his face.  
“Cute?” he asked, incredulous.  
“Cute,” she answered with assurance.  
John smiled at Cassie and slipped his hand around her waist as his lips kissed her neck. “I’ll show you cute. Come in the shower with me,” he nuzzled into her neck. “I’ll wash your back…”  
She arched her neck back in reaction to his kiss. “That sounds wonderful.”  
They sat up and went to the edge of the bed. John stood first and walked in front of Cassie. It was then she noticed the huge tattoo on his back, the words in Latin. Cassie stood and gently placed her hands on him.  
“John, what is this? Fortis Fortuna Adiuvat? It’s been awhile since I took Latin—I was in medical school. Fortune helps the strong? You also have a third degree burn here.”  
“It’s the symbol of a…a…special private society,” he explained, obviously uncomfortable.  
“You mean like a fraternity or something?”  
John nodded, turning to face her. “Yes, something like that. I’ll explain later.” He leaned down and kissed her neck as his hands slid down her naked back. Slowly, he began to walk Cassie backwards toward the bathroom, his lips still tasting her neck. Cassie giggled as his tongue gently ran up to her ear and he kissed her earlobe. She passed her nails softly across his back and John wiggled against her with a smile on his face as they continued toward the bathroom.  
She gently removed the bandages from his collarbone and right side then John stood behind her, his strong hands rubbing her shoulders. Starting the shower, Cassie waited until the water was just the right temperature and stepped in, John behind her.   
Turning around to face him, Cassie reached out to hold his body against her warmed skin. John slipped his arm around her waist and pulled her moist, warm body to his. As the water slid down their entwined bodies, they kissed several times before neither one of them could hold back anymore. He held the back of her neck as their mouths came together, open and hungry for each other.   
She reached around him and took a bottle of body wash and squeezed some in her hand. Their bodies still pressed together, she began washing his back with her soft hands, massaging his muscles gently. A soft scent of lavender and chamomile filled the shower. Cassie stepped away from him slightly and covered his chest and arms with the body wash, making long, slow sweeps down his arms and torso.  
He stood there, captive under her hands, as she made her way down his abdomen and legs. The water was falling down around the two of them in warm streams. When she started to rise, her hands went behind him and slid up the back of his legs, around his backside. He started to ache for her.  
Helping her to stand, they stood face to face. Cassie tipped him back slightly so he was directly under the shower stream and allowed the water to rinse him off, as her hands followed.  
She placed more body wash in her hands and making a trail down the center of his body, took him in her hand. John sucked in a breath as she touched him, and pulled Cassie in to kiss her deeply on the mouth.  
As she gently stroked him, his hands went behind her to the spot on her lower back that drove shivers up her spine. She quivered under his touch, her hands rising to grab him by the shoulders and pull him closer. John reached to place some soap in his hands and began to rub her back, his touch forceful, pointed. She giggled slightly when he touched her lower back and said, “That tickles…” John whispered back into her ear, “I’ll remember that.”  
Stepping away from her, he looked down at her slender, lithe body and bit his lip involuntarily. Having her full attention, his hands covered her shoulders and then began a leisurely trip down her body, his hands strong and bold yet tender. Cassie arched her back towards him as he placed one hand behind her back and covered her breast with the other, taking his time and using the slippery-ness of the soap to caress each one.   
Suddenly, his hand went down her body and in between her legs. Cassie held her breath for a moment as his fingers moved in circles around her. She began moving with him, reacting to his touch. Leaning forward, she whispered, “I want you now John.”  
Sliding his hands to her waist, he turned her so her back was to him. He placed his chest against her back and began kissing her neck, just below her ear. Cassie placed her hands on the marble shower wall to steady them and eased back to him.   
Still kissing her neck, his one hand steadied them against the wall and the other made its way back down between her thighs. Cassie pushed back against him harder, bending from the waist and raised her hips. With the warm water still tumbling down their bodies, he entered her from behind as she gasped.  
Cassie’s body was in overdrive. His one hand was in between her legs and he was inside her, thrusting back and forth and moaning in her ear.   
“Oh, God, John,” she exclaimed, knowing she was reaching her maximum. “Shit.”  
They began moving In a faster, more urgent rhythm. John moaned in her ear, “Shit, Cassie…oh, shit” and heard her call out his name again as her body began to peak underneath him. Grabbing her tightly, he pulled her into him even closer and his thrusting became faster, more demanding. As Cassie came undone, his reaction to her body jerking and trembling was to explode inside her. He continued to rock her as the warm water caressed their bodies.   
“Oh, God, John,” she panted.   
“Baby…” he answered, his breathing heavy. He placed his mouth on the back of her neck and kissed it.  
They stayed there a moment, holding each other tightly, letting their bodies relax and allowing time for their breathing to return to normal. He withdrew from her then and turned her around to face him.  
Cassie’s heart was still beating fast when she looked up at him. John placed his forehead against hers, kissed her cheek, then her lips as she placed her hands on his shoulders.  
“Jesus Christ,” he commented, taking a deep breath.  
“I’m not sure I can move my legs,” she smiled at him. “They seem to have gone weak.”  
“I’ll hold you steady,” he promised her. “Lean on me, baby.”  
Cassie looked at him tenderly and nodded her head.  
“C’mon Cass,” John began. “Let’s rinse off and get dressed. We’ll go downstairs for breakfast and then head back to your house to see if we can straighten things out with the police. If it’s okay with you, I need to make a stop first to pick up my car, then I’ll follow you to Braxton.”  
“Okay, Sunshine Superman,” she answered him with a smile.  
“That’s cute,” he laughed easily.


	8. Chapter 8

Chapter 8  
While Cassie waited at the table after breakfast, John went to get the dog from Charon. On his way back to the table, Cassie saw that he was stopped by a man in a sharp business suit, with salt and pepper hair and a confident swagger. She could not hear them; she only hoped it didn’t mean more trouble for John or for them.  
“Jonathan,” Winston began in a deep British accent. “What do you think you are doing?”  
John looked at Cassie, then back to Winston. “Breakfast.”  
John started to walk away, but Winston stopped him. “What are you doing bringing that woman here?”  
“Breakfast,” he repeated, emotionless. “I would have taken her to my house, but as you know, there was a gas leak….”  
“Right,” Winston replied, holding the syllables out. “And whose fault was that?”  
John began to walk away again, but Winston said, “The High Table is not happy with you, Jonathan. It seems you claimed you would serve, but you ignored a direct command.”  
“Killing you…” John said, his back still to Winston.  
“Yes,” Winston agreed. “Killing me.”  
John partially turned to Winston and said, “Who says I won’t?”  
Winston stood tall. “It seems to me, Jonathan, that you have lost your edge. The women in your life have made you soft, with a conscience. That does not serve the High Table.”  
“Since when have you cared what the High Table wants?” he shot back.   
“I care when it serves me,” Winston stated factually.  
“So you want me to kill you?”  
“Of course not,” Winston told him. “I want to see you as the hunter you once were. Women and the life you chose do not mix. You got out once, Jonathan. Don’t think you can do it again. You’re doomed to failure. And I’d watch my back, if I were you. You have defied a direct order from the High Table.”  
John began walking away with his dog by his side. “I didn’t choose the life. It chose me,” was all he said.  
As he walked forward, he spotted Cassie drinking her coffee at the breakfast table. He didn’t think she saw him yet, but he saw her and a smile broke out on his face. She changed his life—he now understood he could still remember and honor Helen, yet live as a man in the real world. If the real world would let him.

John drove Cassie’s car with the dog in the back seat to a warehouse on the outskirts of the city. Pulling up to a huge warehouse garage door, he waved at the operator and the door went up, allowing him in. He drove to the side and parked.   
“Wait here,” he told Cassie. John looked at her and leaned over the console to kiss her. She smiled and nodded.  
Exiting the car, he walked over to where several men were looking under the hood of a car. They turned toward John’s voice and one of them exclaimed, “What the fuck are you doing here?”  
Before John could answer, the man continued. “You have to get out of here. They nearly fuckin’ killed you.”  
“What are you talking about, Aurelio?” John asked him.  
“We took you. We took you to Braxton…the hospital. Jeremy found you unconscious behind the Continental. He said Braxton should be remote enough to be safe.”  
“Who’s Jeremy?”  
“Marcus’ nephew.  
“Aurelio, Marcus was killed because of me. You think his nephew wants to help me?” John asked him, irritation in his voice  
“You’re alive, aren’t you?” Aurelio asked pointedly. “Last time I saw you, you were out of it and half dead. And you’re welcome, by the way.”  
John extended a hand to shake Aurelio’s.  
“That’s pretty much all I know,” he told John. “And what the hell are you driving?”  
John didn’t answer. “I came to pick up my car.”  
“Yeah, well, it’s done. It’s completely re-built. You killed that car, John,” Aurelio said. “It’s in the back. Keys are in it.” He bent forward to look in the car John had arrived in. “Somebody gonna drive that car out?”  
John nodded and extended a hand. “Thanks,” he said and turned to head to Cassie’s car.  
“Just follow me,” he told her. “When we get to Braxton, you take the lead. I’m not sure how to get to your house.”  
Cassie nodded and shifted herself over the console into the driver’s seat. John leaned into the car to kiss her and Cassie’s hand reached up to touch the side of his face.

Now he was stuck with his own thoughts for the ride to Cassie’s. While he had more pressing issues to think about, who was trying to kill him, for example, his mind just naturally went to Cassie, her delicate sensuality, her sensibility. It was like flashes from a polaroid camera – Cassie kissing him, sitting at the table in that red sweater, her hands lost in his hair, deep, dark brown eyes needing him, wanting him, her butterfly kisses down his body. “Sunshine Superman,” he laughed to himself.  
Would she want him if she knew who he really was? No, probably not. But he was either going to have to tell her, or leave her. Those were the choices his life left him. There was no chance for him to leave the life again. He had gotten out, came back in and that was his lot.

Cassie turned the radio up once she reached the Interstate. She was hoping singing along with The Beatles or the Rolling Stones or Led Zeppelin would stop her swirling thoughts and it worked. Temporarily. Then she would see John’s milk chocolate eyes and bright smile, but what did she really know about him? Conversations over dinner and breakfast consisted of John asking her question after question about her life, about her medical career. He could practically remove an appendix with all the information she gave him. And they talked books, Monet and VanGogh, travel, sports, and the ASPCA.  
“Yeah, well, goddamn it,” she told herself. He was going to have to answer some questions of her own. If he was thinking they would have another sexual encounter before he shared some of his life with her, he was totally mistaken. “Mis-taken,” she thought with blustery confidence.  
She puckered her lips and blinked her eyes, knowing she was full of hot air. All he would have to do is look at her, and she’d melt into a big puddle. The way he kissed her was like the song said, “on her list of the best things in life.” John was a gold medal champion when it came to kissing. Then there was that hair. Who has hair like that? Was he a mutant or something?  
“How old are you?” she asked herself, laughing out loud. She felt like a teenager going on and on about her first crush. When she thought about his naked body against hers, she almost drove off the road.  
She turned the radio up even louder and began singing, “Here Comes the Sun.”

It took just over 60 minutes to reach Cassie’s house in Braxton. She opened the garage door and pulled her car in, John pulling his Mustang in next to her. Cassie sat back in the driver’s seat and stretching against the steering wheel, took a deep breath. She watched John exit his car and begin to walk towards her. He stared at her from the front of the car, then went to open Cassie’s door for her.  
She looked up into his eyes and took his offered hand. John moved her up against the car and closed the door. Cassie grabbed onto the lapels of his suit coat and pulled him in to kiss him. As their lips met, a fire ignited; Cassie pulled him quickly into the house, closing and locking the door behind them. Together they fell against the wall, John bracing them with his one hand, the other holding her lower back securely.  
Cassie’s arms wound tightly around his neck as John started kissing her, Cassie meeting his passion with her own. Mouths together, their tongues searching the other in a desperate need, they held onto each other as though they were life buoys. John began kissing her neck with growing intensity while Cassie moaned against him, whispering his name. He slipped his leg through hers until he couldn’t go any farther while she slid her hand down the front of his body to the growing erection in his pants.  
John covered her mouth again with his own as his hand explored her body, eventually slipping a hand underneath her sweater and pulling it off in one swift motion.  
“Cassie,” he sighed into her neck as she began to slip off his suit coat. Cassie’s eyes were fixed on his as she loosened his silk tie and quickly unbuttoned his dress shirt. She reached around him and slid the shirt off, gently gliding her fingernails up and around his chest.  
Urgently now, John unzipped her pants and helped her slide out of them, his large, strong hands tracing the front of her until he came to her bra. Deftly, he pulled her forward and unclasped her bra, the material falling down to the floor. Cassie braced herself against the wall as his mouth came down on hers again; she arched her back towards him and pulled him closer. Running her hands down his powerful bare chest, she reached the waistband of his trousers and unzipped them, freeing him from his pants.   
In one quick movement, together they ripped her panties and his boxers off each other. John pushed her eagerly into the wall, raising her one knee up along the side of her body. Bowing down slightly, as he rose he entered her fully and heard Cassie hitch her breath.  
Immediately they found their rhythm and it seemed like only seconds before Cassie called out his name and dug her fingers into his back.  
“Shit, John ,” she moaned softly.  
He thrust into her again and her body began to shudder underneath his hands. He moved quicker and as she continued to quiver. Beyond aroused, he released himself, breathing heavily into her neck.  
“Fuck…” he managed to say in between his quickened breaths. He lowered Cassie’s knee as he withdrew from her and kissed her fully on the mouth. John could feel her heartbeat in her chest.  
They sighed together, taking in a deep breath of air, their arms wrapped around each other.  
“Welcome to Braxton…,” she said finally, smiling at him.  
John placed his cheek next to hers. “Friendly little town you have here,” he laughed.  
“We aim to please,” she teased him.  
John kissed her cheek and stepped back, leaning down and putting his boxers back on. He handed Cassie her black panties and his Oxford shirt and she slipped them both on. John took her hand and kissed her lightly.  
“Would you like a glass of wine or something else?” Cassie asked, after kissing him again and taking his hand to walk into the kitchen.  
“That would be nice.”  
“Have a seat in the livingroom and I’ll get it,” she told him.  
She could see him sit on the sofa from her viewpoint in the kitchen.   
“Are you in any pain?” she called to him. “I should check your wounds.”  
“No pain,” he responded. “I’m fine, thanks.”  
Cassie rounded the kitchen island and presented John with a glass of red wine, then sat next to him.  
“So what’s the game plan here?” Cassie asked, placing her leg over his. “Are we going to the police department to clear this up or what do you want to do?”  
John’s 6th sense was on high alert. Something was really off with this whole scenario. From Jeremy finding him half dead outside the Continental to ending up at the Braxton ER, something wasn’t right. Why didn’t they just kill him? And did all this have to do with the High Table being upset with him for not killing Winston? Well, he wasn’t going to kill Winston. He didn’t want to kill anyone.   
His hand made long, light sweeps of her shin. “I’ll go there tomorrow while you’re at work and straighten it out.”  
“John,” she said, looking him in the eyes. “What do you do, anyway? I mean your career. Why would someone shoot you, stab you and leave you for dead outside the ER? I mean, too much, no?”  
There were 2 choices. Tell her the truth and lose her or lie and eventually lose her. He decided to go with a combination of the two.  
“I don’t know why someone would do that,” he told her. “I honestly don’t.”  
“Well, is it related to your job?”  
“Yes.”  
“So what do you do?”  
“It’s very complicated,” he said slowly.  
“I have a high functioning brain,” she responded. “Try me.”  
John was silent for a long time. “It’s better that you don’t know, Cass. Can you leave it at that?”  
“What? I’m good enough to sleep with but not good enough to know what you do for a living?”  
“No,” he answered immediately. “No. It’s not that. I’m just trying to protect you.”  
“I’m not some Mafia wife,” Cassie told him pointedly, removing her leg from his lap.  
“I know that. But the less you know, the better off you are,” he said, gently. “I’m trying to change my life now. But I don’t know if I can.”  
“You’re very mysterious.”  
“I don’t mean to be, I just have to.”  
“Can you tell me anything about your life?” Cassie asked him.  
He shook his head and looked down at his hands. “No. I’m sorry, Cass. You already know everything I can tell you.”  
“So you’re an international man of mystery….?”  
He laughed slightly. “I don’t want to be. Not to you, anyway.”  
“Look, John. I’m no shrinking violet. I’ve got a mouth and I have a brain. I’ve birthed babies and held the hands of the dying. I’m pretty sure anything you can say wouldn’t shock me in the least.”  
John leaned in and kissed her gently on the lips. “You have to trust me, Cass,” he said, his face close to hers. “I’ll explain it to you when I can. For now, I can’t. If you’d kick me out on my ass right now, I’d understand.”  
She leaned her face away from him and looked in his eyes. “You’ll explain it to me when you can?”  
“You have my word. Just trust me Cass. Please.”  
There was a moment of silence as they watched each other, John wondering if she would, indeed, kick him out and Cassie wondering how long she could stand being kept in the dark. But, God help her, she did trust him. Besides how, she wondered, could anyone who kissed like a blue-ribbon prize winner be anything but on the up and up? She laughed at herself. Her logic was faulty and if and when she ever cared about that, all she had to do was look in his eyes and her defenses would melt. Like now.  
“All right, fine. I get it,” she blurted, sitting up and reaching for the remote control for the television. Cassie looked back at him. “When’s the last time you watched Sunday Night Football, ate pizza, hot wings that burned the shit out of your mouth and drank beer?”  
“That’s a ‘thing’?”  
“Or we could watch ‘Hockey Night in Canada’ and eat hot dogs, soft pretzels with melted plastic called cheese and drink beer. I have the NHL channel.”  
“That’s another ‘thing’?”  
“Or we could soak in my bathtub and under candle light, feed each other cheese and strawberries, drink wine and listen to Frank Sinatra.” Cassie blinked her dark eyes at him. “Your call.”  
John studied her and reached out to run the back of his hand down her cheek. “Where’s your bathtub?”


	9. Chapter 9

Cassie awoke before the sun in the same position as she did the morning before with John spooned up against her, his arm draped around her. His dog was sleeping at the foot of the bed, stretched almost all the way across it. She felt warm and safe up against John’s body…come to think of it, she always felt warm and safe when he was with her.  
Getting up and going to work was something she wished she didn’t have to do. She’d rather stay where she was, warm under the covers and John’s protective arm. Cassie moved slightly and John let out a sigh, rolling over onto his back. She followed him, rolling onto her side and propping herself up on her one elbow to watch him sleep.  
Delicately, she moved the hair from his face with one finger. Early morning light filtered in her room through the sage green sheers on the window, leaving one side of his face in shadow and the other side in darkness. He looked so peaceful, she decided not to wake him. Awake, even when appearing to be relaxed, he was like a deer in the forest, always keeping a keen eye out for trouble. She tried to imagine what his childhood was like and she figured it was so far removed from her own that she would never be able to picture it.  
A low hum came from the back of his throat and he stretched his legs out. His eyes still closed, Cassie leaned onto her back as he slowly moved on top of her, his arms on either side of her shoulders. John’s eyes opened to half mast, his legs gently moving Cassie’s to slip his legs in between hers. He nestled his lips on her neck, then teasingly kissed her face, her cheeks, the tip of her nose, her chin.  
“You’re going to make me late for work,” she whispered in his ear.  
“Uh huh,” he mumbled back, kissing the front of her neck.  
“C’mere,” Cassie said to him as she took his face in both her hands to bring his lips to hers.   
John’s mouth closed around hers as his hand did an appreciative slide down her naked body with a feather light touch. Cassie wiggled against his hand and giggled. John suddenly dove underneath the covers and began a whimsical trip down her body with his hands and then ran a finger down the sole of her foot.   
“Shit John, that tickles….,” she laughed, looking down the bed. Cassie tried to pull her leg back, but John wouldn’t let go. “Right,” she said suddenly taking up the challenge and flipping the covers up and over her head. “This is war, Mr. Wick.”  
Cassie went on a hunting mission to find out where John was ticklish…touching every area of his body she thought might be sensitive. She discovered his Achilles’ heel was his kneecaps and as she made contact with his knees, she heard him bellow out a laugh that made her feel so good. She’d never heard him laugh like that, unrestrained and free.  
With the covers flying around and the bed shaking, John’s dog fled from the bed and took a spot on the floor near John’s side of the bed. “Sorry, boy,” John said to him with a laugh in his throat. When John came up for air from under the covers, his hair was straggled in hundreds of different directions causing Cassie to break out in laughter.  
“What?” he asked Cassie, knowing full well his hair looked like he put his finger in an electrical socket. “Too much? Too soon? What?”  
Cassie’s side was beginning to ache from laughing so hard. He had a little boy look on his face that went well with the blown up hair. From a sitting position she pulled her legs up to ease her laughter and the only thing she could see on John was his head. The rest of his body was under the covers.  
Crawling up to her from underneath the comforter, he warmly kissed his way up to her lips as Cassie lay back down and placed her arms around his neck.  
“I’m definitely going to be late for work now….,” she said, looking into his eyes.  
“I know,” he answered as his lips came down on hers. Cassie’s mouth opened to him and his tongue teased her lips before slipping in. She felt electric shocks crawl slowly up her back as he kissed her passionately over and over. Feeling dizzy and drunk as his tongue searched her mouth, her hands went up to his hair and she ran her fingers through its silkiness, pulling him in even closer. John eased back and looked at her.   
She brushed his face with a tender hand and pulled him down to her, John nibbling on her neck. As he moved his hips, he entered her slowly and when he was fully inside her, bucked his hips and then stopped moving.  
“Don’t move,” he whispered in her ear, his voice heavy and low.   
“But John, I want to move,” she answered him in a breathy voice, beginning to shift her hips.  
“Don’t move, baby,” he said again seductively in her ear, his body completely still.  
His breath in her ear was giving her goosebumps; her body filled with shivers. “John, I need to move….,” Cassie told him, breathlessly. “I need to move….”  
“I’ll tell you when to move,” he continued to whisper in her ear. “I’ll tell you.”  
Cassie stopped trying to move, but her body and mind were on fire. Her pulse and breath quickened, the pupils in her eyes dilated. Her heart was pounding in her chest and she felt a light sheen of perspiration form on her upper chest. Cassie felt herself begin to come undone.  
“John..,” she called out, her fingers digging into his back. “Dear God, John.”  
He finally told her to move and she began to shake beneath him. Her hips urgently went up to meet him and he thrust inside her again and again, quicker and faster, in a cadence all their own. Suddenly, it had built up beyond anything she had ever experienced and she began to orgasm. John maintained the powerful rhythm they had started as her body jerked and trembled beneath him. He bucked his hips into her until Cassie heard him call out her name with a moan and he released inside of her. He continued to thrust into Cassie until it slowed and stopped.  
Breathing heavily, they met face to face and smiled at each other. John kissed her fully on the mouth.  
“Jesus Christ,” Cassie exclaimed, still trying to catch her breath, her face close to his.  
“Shit, Cass, shit,” John offered, his breathing beginning to settle down. He kissed her again and laid his head on her shoulder. She covered the side of his face with her hand and ran her fingers down his beard to his neck. Cassie continued to stroke his stubble with a gentle hand until he withdrew from her and rolled onto his back.   
She turned with him, curling up beside him and feeling John’s strong arm wrap around her as her head lay down on his shoulder. After a few minutes, he sat up to pull the comforter over them and returned to his spot with his arm around Cassie.  
“You are an incredible lover,” Cassie whispered.  
“It takes two, Cass, it takes two, but do go on…” he joked.  
“You’re magnificently handsome,” she began, her finger tracing an imaginary line down his chest. “Your eyes could melt the Arctic. You’re gentle, generous, considerate and patient. And your hair….dear God, your hair just calls out to be touched as does your lovely muscular body. You also have a very sweet ass and kiss like a world class, gold metal champion. You are, indeed, a Sunshine Superman.”  
“Cute,” he laughed, pulling her in to kiss the side of her face. “You’re beautiful,” he said as his hand formed around her cheek. “You’re beautiful and sensual and you carry a womanly mystique that is captivating. You’re honest and open, funny and smart. I could get lost in those eyes of yours and if I was a betting man I’d bet that every man who gets to know you falls in love with you.”  
“John,” she whispered, the curve of her nose against his neck; her arm around his chest.  
“I know Cass,” he whispered back, kissing her temple. “I know.”


	10. Chapter 10

Cassie was an hour late getting to the emergency room at Braxton Community Medical Center. She ran to the physician locker room without her usual wave to staff, where she hung up her coat, grabbed a cup of coffee and was out on the floor in minutes. There were only a chest pain, a minor car accident, a rotovirus sufferer and a woman who cut herself at home with a kitchen knife in the ER.  
“Nobody missed me,” she said to herself. She didn’t even see Edwin Baker. “Made it under the radar,” she said proudly.  
She took a sip of her coffee as Edwin approached her. “In my office Dr. O’Hara.”  
“Oh shit,” she said to herself and followed him down the hallway.  
John was feeling something not quite right in the pit of his stomach as he approached the Braxton Police Department. After parking, he exited his car and headed for the front entrance. There was no one at the front desk, which being a smaller town, didn’t surprise him.  
He wanted to settle this for Cassie or he would have let it go, so he took a seat in the front lobby. He waited about 10 minutes before an officer came to the front.  
“Can I help you?”  
Before John could speak, 4 men dressed in black came running at him from behind the desk. He suddenly felt trapped, but realized because of the small lobby, they could only get to him one or at most two at a time and he stood braced for the first attack. He bent his knees, one foot in front of the other and balled his hands into fists.  
“Why?” flashed into his mind and concern for Cassie followed as John deflected a punch and felt his fist connect with the first man’s chin with the sound of a crack. John grabbed the assailant’s gun from his holster as the man went down with a solid thud.  
Armed now, John threw his back against a wall, aimed and fired. It was like shooting bugs in a barrel. “How could they be so stupid? “ he asked himself as he shot the second and third man coming at him. The fourth man smartened up and turned back. John didn’t want to stick around to see if he was getting reinforcements or just running away. He shot the first man in the head before exiting.  
John ran to his car, jumped in and fled away at high speed. The Braxton Police Department? What or who was in Braxton? The whole situation was unnerving and wasn’t logical. What he thought now was to get Cassie, get the dog and get to the Continental.

John headed to Braxton Community Medical Center, his tires squeeling with every stop and turn. Driving into the ER parking lot, he slammed on his brakes, threw the car into park and jumped out. Running past where Cassie found him, he rounded a corner and went through the double doors of the front entrance. The triage nurse greeted him immediately and he took a breath to settle himself down, asking, “Could I see Dr. Cassie O’Hara please?”  
This began a 15 minute discourse on why he wanted to see Dr. O’Hara and if he was ill or injured. John tried to keep his temper in check as he explained he was a friend and needed to speak to her; it was urgent.  
She took his name and went back into the ER, appearing a short time later to announce Cassie hadn’t come into the hospital yet.  
“That’s impossible,” he answered her, evenly. “She was running late, but she definitely left the house for work.”  
The nurse eyed him suspiciously with a raised eyebrow. Was this Cassie’s partner? She was always so private about that. “Well,” she thought. “She has good taste.”  
“Look,” she answered him. “Go through the door to the main ER unit secretary. She’s right inside the door. You can check, but I’m telling you, she’s not here.”  
“Thanks,” John said to her and walked quickly through the door.  
He continued forward until he came to another desk with whom he assumed was the unit secretary. The woman was on the phone and John shifted from one foot to the other waiting for her to hang up.  
“Can I help you?” she finally looked up at him.  
“I’m a friend of Dr. Cassie O’Hara. Is she here?”  
The woman took a deep breath and began typing on her computer. “No,” she said. “She’s not signed in nor has taken care of any patients.”  
“Thank you,” he responded over his shoulder as he flew out of the ER.  
John went through the back door which led to the ramp where Cassie had found him 3 days ago. He stood at the end of the incline and looked out into the parking lot, where he spotted Cassie’s car. He turned from there and walked over to the main entrance of the hospital around the corner. As he stood there, thinking of his next move, the sun came out from behind thick, white, heavy clouds and near his foot, something shiny caught his attention. He reached down and picked it up, rolling it in his hand…an earring with a blue stone.  
“What are you doing, John?” Cassie asked him, sweetly. He was watching her in the mirror as she put make-up on her face.  
“Watching you,” he answered softly, walking up behind her and putting his hands around her waist. His lips kissed her at the spot where her neck met her shoulder.  
“I’m not doing anything exciting,” she smiled at him, leaning into his kiss as she closed her eyes momentarily.  
“I don’t care. I just want to look at you,” he replied, putting his chin on her shoulder and watching her in the mirror.  
Cassie playfully puckered her lips and blew him a kiss. John continued to watch her as she finished her make-up and reached into a box on her dresser to pull out a pair of earrings -- ones with a shiny blue stone that she slipped into her pierced earlobes.  
It was Cassie’s earring in his hand, one she had put on that morning as she got dressed for work. She had been there…at least as far as the main entrance of the hospital.  
Anger filled him as he got back into his car, still clutching Cassie’s earring, and headed for her house. How he would get inside was another problem and he decided if he had to break a window, he would, however, out in Cassie’s driveway was Deloris White. John carefully drove around her and parked in the open garage.  
Deloris walked towards him slowly, but her face registered worry. “Cassie never leaves her garage open,” Deloris began to tell him, reaching for his arm. “I called her cell phone, but she didn’t answer. Should I call the police?”  
John touched her arm and smiled warmly. “No, I don’t think that’s necessary. She’s very busy at the hospital. She’s so busy she forgot to give me a key to the house….”  
“Oh, use mine,” Deloris offered, reaching into her coat pocket and producing a huge, puffy cat key ring.  
“Thank you,” John responded gently. He opened the door from the garage into the mud room and returned the key to Deloris as the dog took a run around the front yard. “I’ll let Cassie know you are worried about her and have her call you, okay?”  
Deloris nodded and turned to walk back down the driveway. “You’ll tell her?”  
John nodded. “Yes, I promise I’ll tell her.”  
He watched her walk across the street and back into her front door, called the dog and went into the house. Within minutes, he heard the back door open and slam shut. Standing in the living room he braced himself for a fight.  
A short man in a charcoal suit walked through the house and approached John with his hands open in front of him. John took a step towards him.  
“Whoa, Mr. Wick,” he smiled, his hands held up. “Peace, man. Peace.”  
John just stared at him, his body still taught.  
“I’m Jeremy. Marcus’ nephew. My uncle saved your ass at least a couple times and gave his life for yours so back the hell up,” he grinned. “I’m here in peace. I saved your ass once already myself and before this is all over, I’m sure I’ll have to do it again. I’m the one who brought your broken ass from the Continental to Braxton with Aurelio.”  
“Why did you help me when you found me outside the Continental?”  
“Eh, it must be in the DNA,” he said lightly. “Consider my uncle and me your guardian angels.”  
John stared at him in disbelief.  
“Look, we’re trained killers,” Jeremy began wistfully. “They say there’s no honor among thieves, but let’s have a little honor among assassins, shall we? The old ways are dead, Mr. Wick. There’s a whole new brand of killers who watch each others backs unless money is involved, of course. The problem nowadays is you can’t tell old school from new school so you still can’t trust anyone. I’m new school so just unfist your hands and sit the fuck down.”  
John remained silent and watched Jeremy carefully as he sat down.  
“Look, John, you’ve got problems. You fucked up. Your life was saved in order to serve and you haven’t fulfilled your part of the deal. On top of that, you get involved with a civilian. That’s like handing them a gun and putting a bullseye in the middle of your forehead. A High Table goon is holding your lady friend until you finish your task. And they’re not holding her at a 5 star hotel.”  
“And you know all this how?”  
“You know how there is ‘under the Table’? Well, there’s a basement under that.”  
“Where’s Cassie, then?”  
Jeremy shrugged. “That I don’t know. And I can’t guarantee that they will let her live even if you do fulfill your task. They have a bad attitude that way.”  
John sat back on the sofa. “The High Table doesn’t involve civilians.”  
“They do if it’s the only way to get what they want. C’mon John. Really,” he grinned at him. “And they want you back in service and Winston dead which are the tasks you need to fulfill if you ever want a chance of seeing that woman again.”  
John leaned forward. “I’m not killing Winston.”  
“Then she doesn’t have a chance in hell,” Jeremy said flippantly. “Which, if you don’t care, could be the end of that particular problem.”  
John would not let him see his panic. He remained calm and unaffected. “And I should believe you because…?”  
Jeremy scratched his head. “I don’t give a shit if you believe me or not. I’m passing on information. If you really want to verify everything, an adjudicator who’s searching for you as we speak can fill you in. I’m just a warning system and adding ‘insider’ information.”  
“How did you find me?”  
“I’m the one who dumped you in Braxton, thinking you were safe, remember? Sorry I fucked that up, by the way. Nowhere is safe anymore, I guess. Anyway, after seeing you with that doctor, it didn’t take a PhD. to figure out where you were,” Jeremy continued. “And she’s quite good looking, if you don’t mind me saying.”  
John swallowed hard and remained outwardly calm. “And what is in this for you?”  
“Literally nothing,” he answered, laughing. “I’m a magnanimous guy.” Jeremy saw the look on John’s face and acquiesced. “Okay, fine. I’m doing it because of my uncle. You did him a couple of good turns. I know he helped you too. I’m just keeping up a family tradition and maintaining a sense of good will.”  
“Why doesn’t the High Table just put a contract out on me and eliminate the problem?”  
“They want you back in service, not dead. It’s Winston they want dead.”  
“Yeah, I get that.”  
“John, I can’t tell you that the doctor is gonna survive this. She’s a pawn, a tool to get you to do what they want. For all I know, she could be dead already. I mean they have the threat, why deal with the extra aggravation?”  
John tried to ignore Jeremy’s theory and extended a hand. “Thanks for the information and for the help. I won’t forget it.”  
“Good luck, John.”


	11. Chapter 11

John immediately began staking out the ER of the hospital from his car, parked where he could watch the back door, the double doors and Cassie’s car. The dog sat next to him in the passenger’s seat, intently watching outside the front window.  
“Good boy,” John told him, petting his head. “Good boy.”   
For 2 days he kept track of the comings and goings of the staff, doctors, secretaries, nurses. No one approached Cassie’s car and nothing seemed out of the ordinary with the staff. It was the third day that something struck him as odd. While every car in the employee parking lot moved spots from day to day, the only cars that didn’t move were Cassie’s and a black BMW three slots away from hers.  
He knew he couldn’t go to the police department with the license number to find out the owner. He couldn’t use contacts from the Continental in order to avoid the adjudicator. It was necessary to find out the information in another way. Sitting in his car, he pet the dog and tried to come up with a solution.  
Spending the rest of the day in the parking lot, he finally came up with the answer. Under cover of night, he let the air out of the BMW’s front driver’s side tire then sat back in his car, waiting for daylight.  
After being up for 60 hours straight, he didn’t even realize when his eyelids closed and he dozed off, his head peacefully leaning against the head rest with his dog at his side.

Cassie wasn’t sure where she was, but the air was musty and smelled like wet earth. The staleness caught in her throat and she coughed until she adjusted to the thickness of the air. Sleepiness tried to overtake her again, but she forced herself awake to make some sense of what was happening. The last thing she really remembered was running into the hospital and getting a cup of coffee, but she didn’t think she made it to the ER department. After that, nothing. Nothing.  
There was a sound of water, like waves coming into shore, but other than that and some birds chirping, it was silent. She tried to sit so she could stand up, but her legs were like rubber bands and her eyes desperately wanted to close so she just laid back down on the bed again. Cassie heard the door to the room open and she quickly closed her eyes.  
“She’s still out,” a man said, sounding aggravated with a deep, gravelly voice. “What the hell did you give her?”  
“Fentynl and Versed,” a woman replied. “Versed is an amnesiac. She won’t remember a thing. Fentynl will keep her asleep and calm.”  
“Well, she needs to wake the fuck up,” the man continued, gruffly. “If they want Wick to do what they want, they are going to have to prove she’s alive, and being half dead from drugs isn’t what we need. If he thinks she’s dead, you won’t get a single thing out of him.”  
“That’s totally not my headache. I’m only here to keep her sedated but functional. The rest of that shit has nothing to do with me. High Table, underneath the Table, the basement, don’t care. Who has to kill who is your problem, not mine.”  
Cassie pretended to just start waking up. She thought the only things she had to protect herself were her brains and her mouth and she needed to start using them now. They were talking about killing people.  
She fluttered her eyes and took a deep breath.  
“Little Miss Sunshine,” the man cracked at her sarcastically. “Welcome to the world.”  
“Where am I?” she asked in a low voice as she looked around the room with several swift sweeps.  
“It’s your new home until your boyfriend completes a task,” the woman told her flatly, folding her arms in front of her.  
“What kind of task?” Cassie sat up and held her head. The room was swirling like she was drunk. They sedated her with something.   
Both the man and woman laughed.  
“Do you have any clue what he is?” the woman snapped at her. “Or have you turned a blind eye to his career choices like a nice suburban doctor?”  
“I don’t have any idea what you’re talking about and I don’t care,” Cassie spat back at them, while holding the sides of her head. “Let me go for God’s sake. What’s wrong with you people? I have a life in Braxton…I have a career…family, friends…people who depend on me.”  
The man spoke up. “I’m gonna cut you some slack because you were drugged to the high hills but this doesn’t really have anything to do with you. It’s all about John Wick. And one way to get to John Wick is through you. You’re really just a hapless bystander. Too bad though because when John completes his task, you’re gonna be killed anyway so I hope the people who depend on you have a Plan B.”  
Tears flooded her eyes and Cassie blinked them quickly so these 2 people wouldn’t see her cry. Fear was filling in the rest of her emotions and she had to stop. She needed to think clearly if she wanted to get out of this alive and hyperventilating with anxiety wasn’t going to do her any good.  
The woman pulled up a well worn chair to sit close to Cassie. “Honey, listen up. Us women need to stick together so I’m going to tell you the truth about your boyfriend…or manfriend…or partner. Whatever.”  
“They call him the Baba Yaga…the boogeyman. Only he was the one they sent to kill the boogeyman. Legend tells that he killed 3 people in a bar with a pencil and you simply don’t fuck around with John Wick”.  
“Look, bottom line, he’s a hitman. An assassin. Stay with me Cassie….he’s a killing machine. A trained hunter and probably the best in the world,” the woman said, gleeful in her destructive words. “Now as a doctor, what is your first rule of medicine?”  
Cassie stared at her and did not respond.  
The woman pursed her lips and leaned forward. “’First, do no harm’ right? Can you live with a man who kills for a living, or is running for his life because there’s a contract out on him? Sounds a little nomadic to me. Long term probably isn’t in the cards, doc.”  
The woman stood up suddenly and told Cassie, “Let’s let you chew on that for awhile. And don’t worry, we are right in the next room and can hear everything.”

John woke with a start and quickly checked his watch. It was 8am on the dot and the car washers began to come into the parking lot in their trucks to begin the day of washing physicians’ cars. John removed his coat jacket and placed it in the back seat, then exited the car.   
Walking into the main entrance of the hospital at a slow and relaxed pace, he asked the information desk where the Medical Staff Office was.   
As he walked to the Office, his mind wandered to Cassie---her soft lips pressed against his, her gentle hands tangled up in his hair, a breathy, sweet voice whispering in his ear, her beautiful naked body underneath his—and how he needed to find her, how it was his fault that she was gone. He also needed to prepare himself to lose her….if they let her live. Right now, John just couldn’t think about that. He just couldn’t. And he couldn’t think about her slapping him in the face and leaving him for what he put her through. He couldn’t lose another person he loved.  
“This plan just has to work,” he thought as he walked through the door of the Medical Staff Office.  
He was greeted immediately by an assistant at the first desk. “How can I help you?”  
“Hi,” John began with a broad smile. “I’m from Jackson’s Car Washing Service and there seems to be a little problem with one of the doctor’s cars. We need the keys to clean the inside of the car and he said he was going to leave the keys with you. But he also has a flat tire so I wanted to let him know. Can you tell me who has a black BMW with this license plate?” John handed her a piece of paper.  
“Flat tire, huh?” the woman looked up at him then began typing in her computer. “You might want to get his keys too when you see him because he didn’t leave them up here, but it’s not like this doesn’t happen 10 times a week.”  
“Great,” he continued to smile. “You’re being a big help. Thanks.”  
“No problem,” then she rolled her eyes. “Couldn’t let one of the docs have a dirty car, now could we?”  
“Lucky for us,” he smiled broader.  
“Here we go,” she finally said, writing information down on the piece of paper he had handed to her.   
John looked at the piece of paper. “You’re sure about this?”  
“Yup. No question.”  
“Could you give me his phone number in case I can’t find him? I’ll call his home and leave a message about his tire. Hopefully he’ll call home before he leaves.”  
“Well, I’ve got a home and cell. You want both?” the assistant asked.  
“Yes. Thanks. That would be terrific.”  
John thanked her again and left the office. He rolled the piece of paper in his hands over and over and worried about Cassie even more now than before he walked in.   
“Fuck,” he said under his breath. “Edwin Baker, Dr. Edwin Baker took her. But why?”  
That he disliked Cassie was an understatement, but why would he take her? Could it all be one big shit show and he was following a foolish lead, with Baker having nothing to do with the disappearance? Well, he had to start somewhere and here was as good as any.


	12. Chapter 12

The sedative kept working against her and Cassie wondered how much they gave her to keep her so lethargic and sleepy. From the next room she heard voices---three muffled voices of 2 men and one woman, but she couldn’t make out what they were saying. Straining to listen, she lost her focus and fell back into a restless sleep.   
In her mind, she was running – running barefoot through a field of green with yellow flowers. Her fear turned to laughter as she noticed a clear, blue sky above her and felt a soft, cool wind. Running farther, she wondered why she wasn’t getting tired. It was then she turned her face to look behind her and right on her heels was John, reaching out for her with both his arms and a huge smile. Cassie wanted him to catch her, but she was just out of his reach. She told herself to fall down but her legs kept moving and her laughter turned to fear when she realized she had no control over her own body.  
Calling to John, she asked him to stop her, to make her legs stop moving. When she turned her face to look behind her again, in John’s place was a formless gray mist. Suddenly, she stopped and the mist came up against her, wrapping itself around her. It was warm and felt like soft cotton fibers gently brushing against her skin.  
Cassie closed her eyes and fell backwards against the air. The air carried her until she was lying on her back in the green grass with the sun on her face and the scent of the yellow flowers all around her. A shadow came across her and blocked out the sun’s rays, awakening Cassie to look up into John’s tender caramel colored eyes as his black hair fell forward and brushed against her cheeks.  
Still dreaming, she watched her hand reach out to touch the scruff of his beard. Feeling the weight of his body on hers, her arms wrapped around him in order to pull him even closer.  
“Wake me gently,” Cassie whispered to him but John shook his head as his lips came down to meet hers. Even in her dreams she couldn’t resist running her fingers through his silky, black hair as his one hand slowly ran down the side of her body.  
He lifted himself up on his arms so he could look her in the face, kissing her forehead, her cheeks, the tip of her nose and down to her neck. Cassie nestled against his lips and closed her eyes, wrapping her arms around his shoulders.  
“Oh, I missed you,” Cassie said softly.  
“I missed you baby,” he answered, talking against her neck.  
John teased her by giving her quick, gentle kisses until her lips parted and his tongue slipped into her mouth. She felt safe and protected and yielded easily to his touch.  
“Baba Yaga,” Cassie heard the gravelly growl in her left ear. “Assassin. Murderer. Hitman.”  
She awoke from her dream and sat up with a violent jerk, gasping for air. Then the tears came—waves of agonizing cries in between gulps for air consumed her as her body shook and her spirit turned cold. She concluded with certainty that these people were going to kill her. She was out in the middle of nowhere guarded by 3 people because why, exactly? Because she got involved with John Wick and she was a means to an end. Her life meant nothing to these people.  
But she knew John would save her. He’d figure out something and find her. She just hoped he didn’t have to hurt anyone in the process. Then after that, what? If John was what these people said he was, she would have to leave him but first, she’d need to hear the words from the mouth that kissed her so tenderly.

John arrived at the Continental with the dog by noon, knowing he needed to avoid the adjudicator, find the computer expert and not kill Winston.  
He entered the hotel and walked to the front desk with the dog by his side. He and Charon greeted each other warmly.  
“I’d like to see the manager,” John added after making some small talk with Charon.  
“Yes, sir. He’s in the lounge. I will announce you,” he said, picking up a phone.  
“Thank you,” John responded as he and the dog headed for the bar area.  
Winston was sitting on the couch in front of the fireplace with the New York Times in his lap. When he noticed John, he removed his reading glasses and stood, taking several steps forward.  
“Are you here to kill me, Jonathan?” he asked calmly in his smooth British accent.  
John shook his head. “No.”  
“Then please do sit down,” he waved his hand at a chair and sat back down across from him. “I take it that you’re here about your female friend—kidnapped, I believe until you kill me and repledge your fealty to the High Table. The adjudicator is here to make sure that happens or both of you will forfeit your lives.”  
John’s face remained emotionless. “Why involve a civilian in this? It goes against all the rules.”  
“You involved the civilian, Jonathan. You ignored a direct order. You seem to have forgotten your pledge to serve. What the High Table does is anyone’s guess.”  
“What does the name Edwin Baker mean to you?”  
“Nothing,” Winston looked at him. “But his father sits at the High Table.”  
John took in a deep breath and sat back in the chair. “I should have known.”  
“I’m assuming you’re thinking of getting out again,” Winston said. “I would advise against it. No one gets out. You were lucky once. I wouldn’t count on luck again.”  
“I wasn’t ‘lucky’, Winston. I earned my freedom,” John answered, angered.   
“Then you forfeited your freedom when you came back in,” Winston told him flatly. “I told you to make sure it was worth it.”  
John thought of Cassie. If he hadn’t gone back to the life, he never would have met her. He never would be given a chance to live a real life again.  
“It was worth it,” he said, rising up from the chair and exiting the room.  
He headed for the elevator and went to the second floor of the Continental. There was the office of the computer expert, a reclusive young man with long dark hair and an even longer black beard. As John walked in, the computer technician looked at him from behind thick black rimmed glasses. As far as John knew, he was nameless.  
John handed him a gold coin and the piece of paper with Edwin Baker’s license plate number.  
“What can you tell me about the owner of this plate?”  
The man immediately went to his computer and began typing furiously, rising at one point to access another of the dozen computers in the room, then returning and continuing to type.  
He finally turned to John and began to speak, stopping himself when he viewed John’s dog. John looked at him, looked at the dog and then back to the man with an emotionless stare.  
The man shrugged and said, “It belongs to a physician, Edwin Baker and is on a black BMW. He lives in a house in a town north of here called Eden Point, New York. He works at Braxton Memorial Medical Center.”  
John rubbed his forehead. “Anything unusual? A record? Parking tickets? Is he married? Kids in trouble? Anything?”  
The man typed again. “Nothing unusual. Divorced. Two kids live with the mom. Her name is Donna Baker. She lives in Braxton,” he said continuing to type. “He has a second car. A white SUV and……and he pays property taxes on two properties.”  
“Where?”  
“The house in Eden Point and a 3 bedroom, 3 bath house in Fox Lake, New York,” he said proudly. “I’ll print the address and a map.”  
“Thanks,” and John was out the door with the dog on his heels.

As Cassie awoke again, she shook her head to clear the cobwebs that clouded her brain, knowing that while she slept, they must have injected her with more sedative. She began to worry they would just overdose her, afterall she was more trouble alive than dead.  
Struggling to sit up, she used her arms to help her legs swing over the side of the bed. Her eyes felt like they were spinning in her head and they automatically closed again, her head falling forward against her chest. She felt tears forming, and took a deep breath to stop herself. She had to keep it together. She had to survive. John would be coming for her. He wouldn’t just let her die here, but it had been days. How many, Cassie couldn’t remember. But he would figure it out and come for her, she knew it.

John pressed the accelerator to the floor once he hit the Interstate. As he drove, he made 3 phone calls and approaching Braxton, threw the phone out the window. He followed the map given to him by the computer tech and hoped he was on the right track. Time was ticking by and Cassie’s life was on the line because of him. He wondered what he would do if he was wrong. John knew what he would do if he was right.


	13. Chapter 13

John crossed into Fox Lake, New York after 3-1/2 hours of driving. Under other circumstances, it would have been a nice place to visit. It was decidedly rural, obviously built for summer vacationers with small country shops and cafes, Farmer’s Markets and craft fairs. Now covered in the oranges and reds and yellows of fall, the crystal clear blue lake sat in the middle of it all, surrounded by 1920’s 2 story Arts and Crafts homes inhabited by rich Manhattanites avoiding the city over the summer. Being November and the middle of the week, the town was quiet, with only a handful of locals walking along the sidewalk who remained year long.  
Making his way around the Lake, John studied the map closely, which took him to a dirt driveway tucked in between a thicket of tall pine trees. He advanced slowly, looking for an outcropping in the road where he could conceal the car. Spotting the perfect place, he turned his car around so it was facing back towards the main road in case he needed to get out quickly.  
The dog was curled up asleep in the passenger’s seat as John gently stroked his head. “Good boy,” he said, then exited the car quietly.  
He walked off the main driveway and snaked his way forward through the trees, stopping when he spotted a white SUV parked in front of a dull colored, 1 story, large ranch house. It was quiet except for the sound of the light waves coming up on the shore. John stood still, trying to figure out his best plan of action. He still wasn’t sure Cassie was here but he was sure the house belonged to Edwin Baker.

Cassie heard someone rattle the door knob and walk into the room. She shut her eyes and pretended to be asleep.  
“How much of that shit have you given her?” she heard a man ask.  
“Enough to keep her quiet,” the woman responded.  
“I told you to stop. Plans are in the works and we need her at least conscious,” the man continued, irritated. “Baker is here and he won’t be happy if she can’t even respond to anything.”  
“Oh, quit being such a pussy,” the woman barked at him. “You’re afraid of your own shadow.”  
It seemed to Cassie that there was some kind of scuffle between the two of them as she heard hard footsteps on the wood floor and furniture move. She was extremely fearful, but remained still in order to avoid another shot of sedative.  
“Shut the fuck up and get out,” the man commanded. “Baker is waiting for a call from his father and then we find out if we’re still in a holding pattern or if we have to kill her. I hope we can kill her and get out of this hell hole. This place is filthy, freezing and in the middle of fucking nowhere.”  
Cassie heard the squeaking of the door as it must have been opened further.  
“A problem?” She recognized that new male voice, but in her sedative state, she couldn’t place it.  
“No sir,” the woman answered. “Not at all.”  
“Any word from your father, sir?” the man asked.  
“No. But we are going to take matters into our own hands,” the other man said confidently. “How much Valium have you given her?”  
“I don’t know,” the woman answered. “Just what you instructed me to.”  
“Well, we are going to up the dosage and let nature take its course,” he said. “Come out here with me and we’ll get another dose ready. You,” he pointed to the other man. “wait here. Keep an eye on her. No one has found Wick yet and I wouldn’t put it past him to figure out where she is. It’ll be harder for him to rescue an unconscious woman as opposed to someone who can walk under their own steam.”  
Cassie struggled to name the third voice. She focused on certain words that seemed to want to trigger her memory – dosage, Valium, unconscious. Her eyes flew open as she remembered….Edwin Baker. It was Edwin Baker’s voice.  
“Good morning again, Sunshine,” the man ran his finger down the side of her face. “Looks like we’re alone and you’re all bright eyed and bushy tailed. Lucky me.”  
“Go away,” she managed to spit out. “Go away from me.”  
The man laughed out loud. “You’re funny as shit. You don’t have enough strength to swat away a fly, you stupid bitch.”  
The man leaned over her and she could smell his sour breath. She turned her face away and tried to raise her arms to protect herself, but they barely moved.  
He came closer to her and was just about to kiss her when he jerked backwards and threw his hands up to his throat. As he went down to the ground, she watched as a telephone cord was wrapped around his neck several more times and pulled tight. He made no sound. Cassie raised her eyes and looked into John’s handsome face.


	14. Chapter 14

She stretched her arms out to John as far as she could. As he held the telephone cord around the man’s neck with his one hand, he made a motion with his other hand for her to remain quiet. Cassie nodded.  
John dragged the man to the opposite corner from the doorway and took the gun that was strapped to his side. He checked the magazine to see if it was loaded, quickly replaced it and silently made his way to the door. Opening it a crack, he listened for any noise. Looking back at Cassie for a moment, he walked through the door and closed it behind him.  
Adrenaline from the mixed emotions of fear and relief came flooding into her blood steam and Cassie began crying and shaking uncontrollably.   
“Oh, shit,” she said to herself. She tried to calm down by taking deep breaths, holding them and then exhaling but she was only partially successful.  
Fortunately, with the adrenaline came some strength and Cassie sat up and swung her legs over the side of the bed. Still shaking but not crying anymore, she listened intently but heard no sounds from beyond the door.  
Planting her feet on the floor, she attempted to stand up, her knees wobbling underneath her and causing her to fall back onto the bed. Breathing deeply, she tried again and again to stand up, her emotions on a roller coaster of laughter and fear, all the while wondering what was happening to John. Waiting and worrying about him was making her anxious and only make the shaking worse.  
She ran a jittery hand through her hair. Besides the sedative, she hadn’t moved from the bed in 5 days except to be helped to the bathroom and Cassie knew this contributed to her weakness. She also hadn’t eaten in days but she knew she had to pull it together if she wanted to get out of here. Her head pounded and her body shook, but she continued to try to stand up, finally being successful by locking her knees and pitching herself forward.  
Stumbling on stiff legs, she made it to a dresser near the door and leaned her ear against a small opening to see if she could hear anything. John had left her what seemed like ages ago but the only thing that came back to her was complete silence.  
Cassie wasn’t sure how long she stood there, but suddenly she heard footsteps outside the door. Looking around frantically, she grabbed a stone carving of a duck that sat on the dresser and held it over her head by the door. Her arms shook with effort, but she wouldn’t move from the spot.  
Finally, the door opened and John’s eyes met hers. She was wild-eyed and shaking, causing John to slowly take the stone duck from her hands. Cassie looked at him but didn’t move.  
“It’s okay now,” he whispered cupping his hands gently around her chin. “You’re safe.”  
Kissing her lightly on her lips caused her to blink her eyes several times and reach her hand out to carefully touch his face.  
She blinked again and then seemed to really see him. “You’re hurt,” she finally said in a voice she almost didn’t recognize.  
“I’m okay,” he assured her. “But we have to get out of here.”  
Cassie suddenly became panicky. “It was Edwin Baker, John. It was Edwin.”  
“I know,” he said to her tucking her underneath his arm and leading her forward. “I know.”  
She wrapped her arm around him, suddenly stopping as she felt the gun in the waistband of the back of his pants. “John…”  
“Cass, we need to get out of here. I’ll explain everything, but for now, we need to leave,” he said urgently.  
Silently, he led her out of the house, through the trees and back to his car near the driveway. Her legs seemed to finally begin to work as he nearly carried her along, bringing her to the passenger’s side of the car and opening the door. The dog immediately jumped to the back seat as John placed her in the car and ran around to get in the driver’s side. Starting the car, he spun out of the dirt driveway, leaving dust in his wake.

John drove as fast as he dared for another 5 hours due north from Fox Lake, his hand nestled safely in Cassie’s as she slept in the passenger’s seat. He looked over at her periodically, memorizing her face, the slope of her neck, the sounds of her breathing as she slept, the feeling of her hand in his. Once he explained exactly who he was, what had happened, what was going to happen, she very well might leave him and he wanted to remember every part of her. If she wanted to leave, he had to let her go and it seemed when it came to the women in his life, through no want of his own, he had been forced to learn how to let go.  
When they finally reached Portland Maine, it was early the next morning. Just on the outskirts of the city, he stopped at a hotel, let the dog out and reached over to wake Cassie.  
“Where are we?” she yawned, stretching her arms out in front of her. “Are you okay? I’m sorry I’m so sleepy. They kept giving me sedatives.”  
“We’re just outside of Portland, Maine.”  
Her eyes opened wide. “Maine? Aren’t we going in the wrong direction?”  
“Not if we want to stay alive,” he said just over a whisper, then in a louder voice said, “C’mon Cass. Let’s get out of this car, get something to eat and I’ll explain everything, okay?”  
Cassie nodded and exited the car. They entered the hotel, registered as Mr. and Mrs. under Cassie’s name and went to their room, the dog entering in front of them and taking a seat on the chair by the window. Cassie stood in the hallway, still slightly stunned and off center. John closed the drapes and went to put his arms around her.  
“Are you hungry?” he asked softly, his lips near her temple.  
“I think so,” she answered, nuzzling up against him. “I’m not quite sure what I’m feeling to be honest.”  
“C’mon baby,” he began. “Let’s get you undressed and into a hot bath. I’ll order us some breakfast and we’ll eat and sleep for awhile. Okay?”  
Cassie nodded and looked up into his face. “Are we safe here, John?”  
He pulled her in closer and kissed her hair. “Yes,” he answered. “You’re safe now.”  
“I’m safer in your arms,” she whispered, walking with him into the bathroom.  
As he ran the bathwater, he noticed Cassie shivering. John turned on the heater and took her in his arms.  
“Thank you for saving me,” Cassie said softly, her hands grabbing at his shirt around his back. “Thank you for putting your life in danger to save mine.”  
“Baby,” he whispered. “It’s the other way around.”  
When Cassie didn’t answer, he walked with her to the edge of the bathtub and shut off the water. Slipping off her long, white lab coat, she looked at him and touched his face.  
“You look so tired,” she remarked tenderly.  
“I’m okay,” he assured her and stepped back from her to slip her scrubs top off her body, then the pants as she steadied herself by holding onto his shoulder. Once he removed her pants, he reached for her panties and slid them down her legs to the floor. Standing, he turned her around so her back was facing him and unhooked her bra, letting it slip to the floor with the rest of her clothes. As he held her hand, she stepped into the tub and sat down, closing her eyes as she leaned backwards.  
John picked up her clothes and folded them carefully, then stepped out of the bathroom.  
The next thing she felt was John’s lips on her forehead. She didn’t know how much time had passed as her eyes opened and looked up at him.   
“Breakfast is here, brown eyed girl,” he smiled, reaching his hand out to her.   
Cassie smiled back at him and stepped out of the tub onto a shower mat on the cool tiled floor. John had a fluffy, white towel that he tossed around her and held tightly. He started to move away from her to get the thick terrycloth robe that was hanging from the back of the bathroom door --John was already in his as he gently dried Cassie’s skin and helped her slip her arms through the robe.   
“Where are the clothes?”  
“In the hotel laundry. We’ll have them back by 9 tomorrow,” he answered with Cassie’s hand in his as he led her over to the table by the window where a feast awaited.  
John poured her a cup of coffee first and Cassie sat down heavily in the chair with the mug in between her hands. She lifted her legs and tucked them underneath her, smoothing the robe out on her lap. John removed the plate covers from the food and pushed Cassie’s chair into the table so she could eat.  
They both ate quickly and quietly, sharing their food with the dog.  
As John took a drink of his coffee, he looked at Cassie. “Beau,” he announced.  
“Beau?” Cassie asked him.  
“The dog. It’s a good name for a dog. What do you think?”  
She tilted her head and looked closely at the dog. “I think Beau is perfect.”  
“Beau it is,” John smiled at the dog as he stroked his head. “Good boy,” he added, standing up.  
“John, where are we going?” Cassie inquired softly, finally releasing the white elephant in the room. “What are we looking at? What is going to happen? Can we go home?”  
He released a deep, sorrowful breath and stood behind her chair, placing his hands around her shoulders. John leaned down and kissed the top of her head. It was important to him to keep his fantasy alive for a little while longer….his fantasy that after he told her the truth, she would stay with him. She had so much more to sacrifice than he did – family, her career as a physician, friends she had since grade school.   
“Cass,” he began with a weariness in his voice. “I promise I’ll explain. But for now, can we just sleep a couple of hours? Can you please, for now, curl up in my arms, close your eyes and let me hold you? Could I feel your warm body next to mine for tonight because I really need you, baby. I need you.”  
She rose to meet him, ran the back of her fingers against his cheek and walked past, going to turn the lamp off that sat on the dresser. Although it was 6am, it was dark in the room because of the thick curtains. Cassie led him to the edge of the bed and lifted her face.  
“I love you,” John said barely over a whisper as his arms curled around her. “I love you, Cass.”  
Cassie’s face was right along the nape of his neck where she kissed him tenderly. “I love you, John,” she answered sweetly.  
He sat down on the bed and leaned his face into her chest out of fatigue, out of confusion, out of sadness. Cassie kissed the top of his head and lightly ran her hands down the side of his face, holding him close.   
“It’s okay,” Cassie whispered, rocking him gently, her hands laced into his hair. “It’ll be all right.”


	15. Chapter 15

Cassie woke up in the same position she had fallen asleep, with her head on John’s shoulder and her arm resting across his chest. Not wanting to wake him, she rolled out of his encircling arms and sat on the edge of the bed, then rose and put on her robe.   
The laundry dropped off their clean clothes and a light breakfast arrived, allowing Cassie a quiet cup of coffee and her own thoughts. This may be the second of her life that will change it all. Maybe she’ll never get to go back home. Maybe she’ll find out John is the trained killer the kidnapper told her he was and she would have to turn her back on him and head home by herself. But how could she leave him when she loved him so? And if she stayed, where would they hide?

John woke soon after Cassie left his arms when he reached out for her and the bed was cold. He watched her silently under heavy lidded eyes. The white, fluffy terrycloth robe she had on accented her ivory skin and auburn hair. With his keen eye, he followed the line of her body down her breasts, to her waist, to her hips…to her incredible hips. Would he ever feel those hips moving underneath him again? John knew he had stalled telling her the truth way too long and the only reason he had gotten away with it is because of Cassie’s kind and trusting soul.  
Could he live with himself if he made love with her now, knowing he was going to tell her the truth afterwards? He shook his head…he couldn’t. He wouldn’t be that much of a louse. But how could he let her go when he loved and needed her so badly?

Cassie felt a gentle hand on her shoulder. “How long have you been awake?” John asked her, tying his robe around him.   
Cassie put her hand on top of his. “Not long. Enough to get our clothes and breakfast. I was just going to wake you.”  
Helping her to stand, John took her in his arms and pulled her in for a hug. Cassie melted against him, sighing breathlessly and stayed there until he stepped back.  
“What is it?” she asked.  
“This is kind of it, Cass,” he began, his voice heavy and deep. He sat her back down at the table and took a chair next to her.  
“What is it?” she repeated, taking his hand.  
“I’m going forward from here and disappearing. Off the grid, as they say. I have everything ready, including a new identity. Earlier while we were sleeping, a friend came and took my car, leaving a plain, grey Honda Accord in its place. I made 3 phone calls before I threw the cell phone out the window in Braxton. All my assets, including the insurance money from the explosion at my house is in a Swiss bank account. I set it up so you can access the money. Then I called in a favor and there are new driver’s licenses, social security cards, and birth certificates for us in a post office box at the local office. The last call I made was to set up a place for us to go, if you want to come with me. All of this is giving you a choice to leave your life behind and come with me or start a new life in a new place.”  
Cassie lowered her eyes and felt sick to her stomach, still holding onto John’s hand like a vice-grip.  
“John, your car? They took your car? Who are you?”  
“Someone who loves you and wants you to come with him. But I’ll tell you the truth, I didn’t live as a decent man for most of my life. I had quit the life I was living when I got married and I’m quitting again now. But with the society I was in, you don’t get to quit twice. It’s unheard of. They will be after me and will kill me if they find me. Edwin Baker’s father, who is part of this ‘society’, will put a bounty on my head and if I stay here, I’m a dead man. I’ve put you in this terrible situation and I can only protect you if you either come with me or take the new identity and go anywhere you want to go.”  
“I….we…can’t go back to Braxton?”  
John shook his head. “No.”  
“I have a life back there, John….I have a career. I have people who rely on me. How can I just up and disappear?”  
“Did you hear me, Cass? Edwin Baker’s father was after me and he nearly got me after Baker called the police when I was in the hospital and now he’s after the both of us,” John sighed heavily. “And I killed his son, Cass….”  
She stood up quickly, shaking her head and went to get another cup of coffee from the pot at the other end of the table. Cassie stopped a moment to look out the big picture window and watched the rain drops slowly slide down the outside of the pane.  
John lowered his head and finally spoke. “The tattoo on my back….the High Table labels everyone who serves. My name is Jardani Jovanovich and my life was to serve…..”  
“Stop!” Cassie called out to him, holding up a hand. Her eyes were fierce. “Just stop. Just stop.”  
She dropped the cup of coffee on the floor and fled to the bathroom, exiting fully dressed and shoving tissues into her purse. Her eyes were tearful and she did not look at John but skipped through the hotel room as if she were a trapped bird. Not a word escaped from her lips as she pet Beau, turned on her heels and left the room.  
John put his head in his hands. He couldn’t let her go. Cassie O’Hara, MD didn’t exist anymore. It was completely clear that her decision was to leave him. He was going to have to cope with that later. For now, he had to get her the new identity documents and take her to the airport. He dressed quickly and walked out the hotel room door with Beau at his heels.


	16. Chapter 16

Chapter 16  
Cassie stopped running after she ended up in an atrium that was witness to the outside rain through the clear glass windows. Lightning and thunder accompanied the waves of sobs wracking her body.   
He was a killer, a hitman, he admitted it. He killed the kidnappers, including Edwin Baker, but she realized he did that to save her. This whole affair was her fault. She insinuated herself in the entire mess and now the life she knew in Braxton was over. It wasn’t all John’s fault. Once again, she opened herself up to help someone and now she was paying for it.  
But she’d do it over again if she had to, just to have his arms around her, to hear him whisper her name in her ear, to have his lips on hers, to feel his body next to her, to run her hands through his silky, black hair. Maybe her destiny wasn’t what she thought it should be…she thought maybe she’d like to be a medical director some day. Maybe her destiny was to be with John, to help him live a normal life for the rest of their lives. She began to believe her future was with John, to love him and be loved by him. This brought a panic into her chest.  
Where was he? Could he still be in the hotel room? She dried her eyes and went back into the lobby. Cassie walked past the front desk with a wave to the clerk and headed for the parking lot. Pummeled by the rain, she searched for John’s Mustang, but it was gone. There were 3 gray Honda Accords and she had no way to know which was his, if any of them were his.  
Drenched, her hair dripping into her eyes, she approached the front desk.  
“Can I help you?” the clerk smiled at her.  
“Room 412,” she answered quickly. “Are they checked out?”  
The clerk pursed his lips. “I’m sorry Miss, I can’t give out that information due to privacy laws.”  
Cassie leaned forward purposefully, rain drops dripping onto the desk from her hair. “I was in 412. With my….husband….and I can’t find him. And just some personal advice….I’m wet, I’m panicking, I feel like a frozen snow cone and don’t fuck with me. Got it?”  
The clerk backed up and turned to look at his computer. “Can you verify the phone number?”  
“Jesus, Mary and Joseph,” she burst out. “No. We just got new phones. Just married. Got it?”  
“A home address?”  
“We just moved.”  
“Name on the credit card?”  
“John Wick,” she answered.  
The clerk nodded and looked at her sideways. “No one checked out.”  
“Did you see anyone with a dog?”  
“We have all kinds of pets here, Miss. We’re a pet friendly hotel.”  
“Terrific,” Cassie bowed her head and pushed away from the desk with her hands. “Thanks.”  
She turned to leave when she heard him call her back.   
“Miss?”  
Cassie turned towards him. He held up a large, white towel that she took with a nod and began rubbing her hair with it as she headed down the hallway to 412. Her plan was to sit there and wait.  
Now she needed to figure out what she was going to say when she found him….if she found him.

John searched the first floor of the hotel and walked into the atrium at the back of the lobby. The flash of lightning caused him to close his eyes momentarily and he leaned against the wall. She just couldn’t have gotten far unless she was able to get a cab. Then she would probably head for the airport in Portland.   
Somehow his 6th sense told him Cassie wouldn’t leave. He closed his eyes again and remembered her in his arms and Cassie kissing his neck with the dawn just beginning to peak outside, slowly moving under the covers until she was on top of him, her body smooth and warm under his hands.  
“Fuck,” he spat. He couldn’t lose her but unfortunately, he couldn’t change his past either. How could he prove to her in 30 seconds or less that he wasn’t that man of the past anymore? How could he sleep without his arm resting gently around her waist? How could he give up a dream of living the rest of his life with her?  
John decided he needed to keep moving. Cassie had to be somewhere, so he checked with the transportation clerk if anyone had ordered a cab, and he answered, “No.” That was a win for his side. Next, he went outside and around the building, but that proved futile and wet.   
The clerk noticed him and told John that his “wife” was looking for him. “I think she went back to the room.”  
John smiled for the first time that day. “Thanks,” he called over his shoulder as he headed for their hotel room.

Cassie sat on the floor outside room 412, contemplating how long she would stay there before going out and looking for John again. She looked down the hallway one way and then the other. Back and forth. She had her arms wrapped around her knees and the towel around her shoulders. She was wet and cold.  
John spotted her before she saw him and he stopped dead in his tracks. He took a deep breath but still didn’t know what he was going to say to her. He had to be ready to be cut to the quick. Cassie could tell him to go straight to hell.  
Then he saw Cassie stand up and peer down the hall as he slowly began to walk towards her. Recognition sparked her to start running towards him. John stood frozen, but when Cassie approached him and he saw the smile on her face, he stepped forward and caught her in his arms as she jumped at him.  
Her arms wrapped around his neck, her leg wrapped around his and he bent backwards, lifting Cassie off the ground. As John set her down, his hands went to either side of her face and he began kissing every inch of her.  
In between loving kisses, Cassie said, “John, I don’t care. I don’t care about your past. It’s the past. It’s done. Can’t change it. It is what it is.”  
John picked her body up off the ground bridal style with one big sweep and walked toward their room.  
“I know you. I know you now and that’s all that matters. Right now. Moment by moment. Tomorrow will take care of itself.”  
“I love you Cass,” he answered as he opened the hotel room door.   
They ran inside and John’s hands were instantly in her wet hair, holding her so he could kiss her deeply. He kissed her over and over until Cassie couldn’t breathe. They parted briefly to shed their rain soaked clothes then their mouths hungrily found each other again. John held her tightly as he walked her backwards towards the bed. Mouths still together, they laid back in tandem on their sides on the soft bed.  
John whispered her name as his lips traveled down to her arched neck, while Cassie slipped her hands into his hair. She lifted her leg over his hips to pull him in closer to her body and worked her hands through his hair to his back, where Cassie held on tightly. John began an urgent trip down her body with his mouth, taking each breast and caressing it with his mouth. Her hands went back up into his hair as her back arched toward him, wanting him urgently. When he reached her soft flesh, he tipped her over so she was on all fours above him giving her full access to the movement of his tongue.  
Her breath stopped for a moment in pleasure until she called out his name. Her body no longer belonged to her. Cassie was lost in a reality of pure bliss as his tongue danced on her and his hands grasped her back side.  
“John,” she called out. “John.”  
Cassie felt every nerve ending in her body come alive. It was like being in a speeding car heading for a brick wall. Taking in a deep breath, her body finally let go, jerking like she just had a jolt of electricity run through her. She quaked and trembled until her body finally relaxed, her breathing still quick and short. John shimmied up underneath her until they were face to face.  
Cassie smiled at him as she leaned down to nuzzle his neck. “Sunshine Superman” she whispered in his ear. He laughed and ran his hands up the outside of her thighs as she straddled him. Cassie left butterfly kisses down the middle of his chest to his abdomen and John leaned back and let out a long breath.  
There was an immediacy and passion in both of them. Cassie just turned her body over to him completely; she felt like a taut rubber band and could only process the intensity, the fire, in the pit of her stomach.   
John only heard a freight train in his ears, traveling faster and faster in need and want. The desire he felt for her, the craving, was overwhelming.   
“Cass, I want you now,” he exhaled, looking at her. “God, I want you…” He guided her with his hands on her hips to take him fully inside her and John let out a moan from the back of his throat. Cassie put her hands over John’s and together they began an increasing up and down rhythm. They looked at each other and a light laugh escaped from both of them, John thrusting his hips into her. He then took one hand and placed his thumb underneath her to stimulate her even more, their quick breaths growing in tandem as their rhythm increased.  
There was a joy and an ecstasy as their bodies came together in love and yearning. It was familiar and warm, yet exciting and new, their bodies fitting together like they were meant to make love to each other.  
“Shit….John….,” Cassie expressed, as she felt the tension just before her body exploded. John felt her spasming and responded by bucking his hips several times and finally releasing into her.  
They both laughed with quickened breaths as John sat up to kiss her.   
“Jesus Christ, John…,” Cassie continued laughing, then kissed him back. “That should come with a health warning….”  
“It takes two, Cass. It takes two. We just happen to be magic together.”  
“That we are, baby. That we are.”  
John withdrew from her and Cassie followed him as he lay back down in the bed. She slipped down from on top of him and rested her head against his shoulder. John turned his face and kissed her forehead.  
They were quiet for a long time, content to be in each other’s arms. They both dozed off for a short time.  
“We have to get going, Cass,” John said, kissing the side of her face. “We have to get to the post office by 5. Then I’ll either take you to the airport and you can decide where to go, or we will continue on in our Honda.”  
Cassie sat up on her elbow. “I’m going with you, John,” she said, her hand running against his black stubble.   
He looked at her intently. “Are you sure? Do you realize what you’re giving up? If you take your new identity, you could start over….”  
“But I wouldn’t have you,” she interrupted, tracing his chin line with her finger. “I love you, John. My future is with you, for better or worse.”  
“I’m hoping for the better…,” he smiled, gently tapping the tip of her nose.


End file.
